When Prankster meets Pessimist
by smartone101
Summary: Erin is a daughter of Hermes, full of pranks, jokes, and plans. Lief is a son of Apollo, running from his past. What happens when the two are forced to work together? T just in case.
1. Meetings

**A/N- Hi guys! It's smartone101, back with another story. I'm not abandoning any of my other stories. I just had this idea rattling around my head. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer- Come on people. You really think I own PJO?**

Chapter 1: Meetings

_Erin's POV_

Another successful prank. I'll have to IM Travis and Connor tonight. They like to know what's happening at camp while they're away at college. Since I'm the biggest (and only, I might add) prankster left at camp, it's my job to let them know what's up at camp. As reimbursement for my time, the Stolls told me where their pranking supplies are. Apparently, there's a hidden second floor to the Hermes cabin that only the Stolls know about. It's really messy up there, but there's a _lot_ of pranking stuff. I've been up there before. I'm working on cleaning it up. Well, not really. I'm just kind of making it messier. Children of Hermes just aren't that good at cleaning.

Anyways, I had just pulled a successful prank on Ares and Aphrodite. It had taken a lot of time and work, but I completely switched their cabins. Bunks, clothes, everything. I couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces. "Erin?" somebody asked.

I turned to see my accomplice, Matthew. He's in the Hephaestus cabin, but is a lot more like a Hermes kid, except for the fact that he develops bombs. Paint bombs, mini bombs, Greek fire bombs, safety fire bombs, you name it, he's made it. And probably has it somewhere in his coat. "What is it, Matt?" He looked nervous. His face was slightly smudged, and his red hair was sticking up everywhere, like he'd been running his hands through it, like he usually did when he was nervous.

"Well, the Ares cabin just came back. They saw me hanging around and told me to tell you that we have sixty seconds. Right now we have-" he checked his watch, "-forty seconds."

"Okay. Matt, you know where to go. I'll hold them off."

"We've been through this before, Erin. I always stick around to help you out. Plus, I don't like the second floor of your cabin. It's too messy and the dust makes me sneeze. I'm staying."

"Okay then. Plan B." Matt's grin grew wider. He loved Plan B.

"Great."

"Matt, you know what to do. I'll meet you in the usual spot."

"You're on."

"GO!"

Matt was off like the Ares cabin was already after him. I snuck away to the maple tree behind the Hephaestus cabin. Scaling it quickly, I dropped onto the roof and sat down to watch and wait. A minute or so later, Matt was back, his crocodile grin even wider then usual. "Mission accomplished. They're arming themselves right now. I'd say we have thirty seconds before the action starts."

Thirty seconds later, the Ares cabin came charging out. Matt pressed a button on his watch and the first line of bombs exploded, showering the Ares cabin in designer clothes, makeup, and pink glitter. Let's just say that Matt has a lot of knowledge of what bugs each cabin the most. The Ares cabin looked a lot less scary covered in glitter. I snapped a picture. Blackmail.

The Ares cabin didn't stop charging. Matt set off his second line of bombs. Safety fire flooded the area. The catch? This safety fire was pink. Another picture. More blackmail.

When the Ares cabin still didn't stop, I turned to Matt. "Plan C?"

"You bet, sister." He flicked his Minnesota Twins cap and its customary wheel of blades popped out. Taking a spray bottle out of his pocket, he dulled the blades with some concoction made by Hecate. I took the spray and did the same with my long flickering knife that I had just pulled out of its sheath. Matt had given me the knife last year. It looked suspiciously like it was made out of flickering flames. By using the spray, we ensured that nobody got hurt. Not that I really cared. Matt, however, was a bit more ethical.

The Ares cabin had spread out to search the area. Matt and I stood up on the roof and shouted, giving away our position. A small army of pink sparkly fire-covered Ares campers swarmed towards us. Once they had almost reached the Hephaestus cabin, we walked to the edge. "Matt?" I asked.

"What?"

"Do you still have the-"

"Yeah. Should we use it?"

"It'll make one heck of an impression." He pulled another spray bottle out of a pocket. Don't ask me how the kid fits so much stuff in there. I took the bottle and sprayed him down. After a few seconds, black flames began to flicker over him. They were made of safety fire, so they wouldn't hurt him, but they sure looked cool. Matt did the same for me. In our customary black pranking clothes and covered in black flames tipped with green and blue, I'm sure we looked quite the sight. And that was just what we wanted. Most of the Ares cabin stopped to stare at us. This gave just the opportunity we needed.

"One." Matt started.

"Two." I continued.

"Three!" We finished together, jumping off the roof with synchronized flips we had acquired over a long practice time. We landed in the midst of the Ares campers and immediately stood back-to-back. Matt threw his wheel, hitting a random kid in the gut before the wheel came back to him like a boomerang. Digging in his pocket for a moment, he produced a very small black package, which he held to the safety fire for a moment while I held off the Ares campers that were intent on killing us. He threw it into the group.

"How long?" I asked.

"Count of three." Which I knew meant count of one. It confuses people most of the time.

"Run?" I asked.

"You bet." We ran as fast as we could. The Ares cabin did not follow, most likely because they were being chased by giant glowing caterpillars. Once we reached the door of the Hephaestus cabin and dashed inside, we paused for a moment.

"Caterpillars? Really?" I asked.

"Hey, don't insult them. It worked, okay?"

"Whatever. They won't keep that mob occupied for long. Where to next, Detonator?" It was an old nickname I used once in a while, obviously based on Matthew's skill with anything explosive.

"The cave."

"No. You know I hate being underground."

"And you know I hate being in the second floor of your cabin. Yet you make me go there anyways."

"Fine."

"Bunk 27b, please." Matt commanded.

"Password?"

"A monkey's uncle is my mother's brother." The bunk flipped down. Matt flopped down at the head while I gingerly sat at the foot. "Downstairs, please." The bed started moving down. Once we reached the bottom (Matt's private room) I turned to him.

"You really need a more creative password."

"Nobody has guessed it yet." I looked around the room. It was as neat as a pin and filled with a lot of supplies, most of which looked pretty dangerous.

"And you feel safe down here?" I asked.

"Well, yeah. None of these hurt anybody unless I put them in a bomb." He grinned, somewhat evilly. We waited until the noise from above subsided, using Matt's system of bugs, which he has planted everywhere. You could hear what was going on pretty much anywhere from down in Matt's room. I heard a conch horn blow.

"Time for dinner."

"Think it's safe to go up?" Matt asked from where he was tinkering with some stuff.

"Yeah. The Ares cabin will be too busy stuffing their faces to pay us any heed." We went back up using Matt's elevator/bed thingy and headed for the pavilion. The safety fire on our suits had burned out, leaving us in our simple black clothes. We (probably) wouldn't create a stir if we showed up late.

_Lief's POV_

I skipped dinner. I wasn't really that hungry. Anyways, most of dinner would probably be an argument between the Aphrodite and Ares cabins vs. Erin and Matt. Erin and Matt would be accused of pranking the two cabins. They would vigorously deny it. It would go on and on. The two would probably end up washing dishes for a week. It had happened too often for me to be interested.

I flopped down on my bed with an ipod and a book. I had learned a long time ago to always keep myself busy. That way, I wouldn't have to remember. It was too painful to dwell on. _Forget the past, _I reminded myself. I've never really fit in with the other Apollo campers anyways. They're always so…optimistic. It drives me crazy. The one Apollo person I'd kind of liked had been Michael Yew. He'd been more of a pessimist like me. Of course, now he was dead. Or at least presumed so. So, I was the only pessimist left in the Apollo cabin. And probably the one with the most painful past. The other campers had never- _Stop,_ I reminded myself. _Don't dwell on the past. It's best if you don't even think about it._

"Hey." Will Solace stood at the door. He was the cabin leader and a couple years older then me.

"What?" I asked.

"You missed dinner again. That's three days in a row, Lief. You _have_ to eat. You'll starve yourself to death if you keep it up like this."

"I'm not hungry."

"Lief, you need to move on from what happened. Just because-"

I cut him off, "Don't talk about it. Just leave me alone."

"Okay, I'll leave you alone this time. One thing, though."

"What?" I asked irritably.

"You need to be at the campfire. I have a song planned out for you."

"Aw, man. You know I hate it when you do that."

"That's why I do it. You should really be a little more social, Lief. You need to come out of the hole you've dug yourself into thinking about-"

"I said: DON'T TALK ABOUT IT!"

"That's what I mean. You're always so defensive. You blow up at people. You're worse then one of Matt's bombs."

"Nothing, and I mean _nothing_, is worse then Matt's bombs." I growled.

"Really? I'll tell him you said that!" A voice from by the window said. I jumped up and looked out. Erin was standing there, a mischievous grin on her face. "Oh, gotta go!" She yelped, and turned to run. I reached out and grabbed the back of her shirt, making her stop and turn.

"What -exactly- were you doing here?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing. Let go of me!"

"Not until you tell me what you were doing."

"I told you, I wasn't doing anything!" Something hitting my sides made me jump. Erin pulled away and ran. I turned, angry, to face a grinning Will.

"What was that?"

"Um…jumper cables?" Will said, grinning sheepishly.

"Why'd you do that? You know what, don't answer that. Just leave me alone."

"Okay, I'll leave you alone. Just be on time for the campfire or I'll hire Erin to pull a prank on you." Will threatened.

"Fine. Whatever. Just go away." I heard Will moving to the door. He stopped for a moment.

"And Lief?"

"What?"

"Cheer up a little, would you? You're like Mr. Gloom and Doom."

"I'll cheer up when you grow up, Will. Life isn't all sunshine and lollipops like you and the rest of this stupid cabin seems to think."

"I know it isn't, Lief." Will's voice was tight. "But what we do is face it with a smile, a joke, and a laugh. You, on the other hand, face it with a permanent scowl, a bad temper, and a really loud voice. I'll see you at the campfire." He left, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

**A/N- And there we go! How'd you like it? Should it be continued?**

**-smartoen101**


	2. Songs, Competitions, and Announcements

**A/N- Hey everybody! Chapter 2! Enjoy! Songs used: Welcome to my Life, by Simple Plan, and Let the Flames Begin, by Paramore.**

**Disclaimer- I'm just doing a general disclaimer here for the rest of the story…So, in case you haven't realized it yet, I don't have never, and will never own PJO. Well, maybe I will when the evil rainbow unicorn-bunnies take over the world. They haven't yet, though…**

Chapter 2: Songs, Competitions, and Announcements

_Lief's POV_

I showed up for the campfire like Will wanted. I didn't really want to go, but I really didn't want Will to hire Erin to prank me. She's been hired before. Let's just say it's not something I want to repeat. "What song is it?" I growled at Will before the campfire started.

"Somebody's feeling grumpy tonight," Will teased.

"Just tell me the song already."

"Fine, if Your Majesty insists, I'll tell you the song."

"Will, are you trying to be sarcastic? 'Cause it really isn't working."

"Oh, well. The song you're singing is called 'Welcome to my Life'. I've heard it before, and it's not really what I'd listen to, so I figured it'd be perfect for you." He smirked. I allowed myself a small smile, since this actually was a song I'd heard. Will gasped. "It's the end of the world! Lief is smiling!" The other campers within earshot started laughing.

"It's not funny, Will."

"You're right, it's not. It's _hilarious_!" Another wave of laughter. I turned about as red as a ripe tomato and quickly took a seat with the other Apollo kids. There were a couple songs that everybody knew, before Will stood up and announced, "Okay, everybody, quiet down. I have accomplished the impossible! Lief is singing!" A roar of applause and laughter followed his words. "Quiet down people!" The amphitheater became so quiet you could here a pin drop. Will gave me a thumbs-up, the other Apollo kids readied their instruments, and I started.

"_Do you ever feel like breaking down?_

_Do you ever feel out of place?_

_Like somehow you just don't belong, _

_And no one understands you?_

_Do you ever wanna run away?_

_Do you lock yourself in your room?_

_With the radio on, turned up so loud,_

_That no one hears you screaming?_

I was…thoroughly enjoying myself. This was a song that I liked, that fit my story. Hmm. Maybe this singing thing wasn't so bad after all.

_No you don't know what it's like,_

_When nothing feels alright,_

_No you don't know what it's like, to be like me._

_To be hurt_

_To feel lost_

_To be left out in the dark_

_To be kicked_

_When you're down_

_To feel like you've been pushed around. _

_To be on the edge of breaking down,_

_With no one there to save you_

_No you don't know what it's like._

_Welcome to my life."_

I coasted through the rest of the song. At the end was a huge roar of applause. I turned tomato red for the second time that night, and slunk back to my seat, embarrassed. I sunk down in my chair as Will stood up and shouted, "Let's give it up for that one! Wasn't he great?" Another wave of applause. _I hope he doesn't make me do this more often, _I thought.

_Erin's POV_

Huh. So Mr. Gloom and Doom can actually sing. And he's not half bad at it, either. He sure needs to work on handling the praise, though. His blush makes tomatoes look pink. Will stood up. Again. "Okay, people. Tonight is your night!" he shouted. "We will be taking requests for songs, but the person who volunteers it will have to be the one singing." Nobody volunteered.

_Well, somebody's got to do this…_ I stood up. "Hey!" I shouted.

"You there! What's your name?" Will asked.

"Erin. Erin Parman."

"Do you have a song?"

I could feel a fiendish grin creeping over my features. "Have I got a song? What do _you _think?"

"Me? I think you just gave me a challenge. Hmm…" he feigned being clueless. "What do you guys think? Does she have a song?" A chorus of yes came from the audience. "Apparently you do have a song, Erin. Come on down and tell me what it is." I picked my way down to the stage and whispered in his ear. "Ah. So _that_ is what it is. Do you guys want to know?"

"Yes!" they all roared.

"Sorry. I can't tell you." Will smirked. "Erin, you're going to have to tell them." I took the microphone form him.

"So, you all want to know what I'm singing, huh?"

"YES!"

"Sorry, everybody. I think most of you will recognize this, though. Will? Can you tell the rest of your cabin. This one's got some instruments, and I can't play anything." Will told the Apollo cabin. I got some glares, and quite a few smiles. "Everybody ready?" You could here a pin drop. The music started up. I waited for the cue. _And…now!_

"_What a shame_

_We all became such fragile, broken things_

_A memory remains, just a tiny spark._

_I gave it all my oxygen,_

_So let the flames begin_

_So let the flames begin_

_Oh glory, oh glory_

_This is how we'll dance when_

_When they try to take us down_

_This is what will be_

_Oh, glory. _

I loved this song. I was vaguely aware of the Apollo cabin behind me. The rest the song just kind of flowed from there. And I was loving it. As I came to the end, I heard almost everybody else singing along. When the song finally ended, I felt a rush of disappointment. A wave of applause came and I handed Will back the microphone.

"Wow." he said, "I think it goes for all of us when I say that was awesome! You brought down the house, Erin!" I quietly snuck back to my seat while Will was talking. That kid really loved the sound of his own voice. "Any other people?" he asked. Complete silence. "Nobody else wants to challenge that?" I swear, you could here the waves at the canoe lake. The campfire was immense, so I was guessing they'd all liked the song, but nobody seemed to have anything else to say.

Well, until Matthew stood up. _This could be interesting…_ Matt never had much of a voice. Oh, boy. "Do we have a challenger?" Will asked.

"Not really. Just somebody who thinks that was an amazing song and I don't think anybody's feeling up to competing with it." Matt sat down again. It's probably a good thing he didn't sing.

"Huh. So that's it? Nobody else wants to sing?" Will was trying to needle the crowd into challenging.

"I'll have a crack at it," Lief spoke up.

"He's singing again? Can you believe it, people?" Will said.

"Just give me the microphone, Will. You like the sound of your own voice too much." Will handed over the microphone. Lief sang some random song I didn't know. The fire grew even higher.

"Hey, Matt," I whispered. He must of heard me over the roar, because he turned towards me.

"What?"

"I have an idea…"

"Oh, great. You and your ideas. Tell me." I told him. He grinned. "I like this idea."

"Good." Will once again asked for challengers. I stood again.

"Do we have a battle here?" Will said.

"If it's a battle Lief wants, it's a battle he gets." I replied.

"Unfortunately, we only have time for one more song tonight, so Erin, you're on the spot."

"Will. I'm always on the spot."

"Right. Now get down here and sing." I went down and took the microphone. Will told the Apollo kids the song. I gave Matt a thumbs-up. He started digging in his pockets.

"_Oh no, I just keep on falling (back to the same old)_

_And where's hope, when misery comes crawling? (Oh, my way hey)_

_With your faith, you'll trigger a landslide (victory)_

_You'll kill off this common sense of mind_

_It takes aquired minds to taste, to taste, to taste this wine_

_You can't down it with your eyes_

_So we don't need the headlines,_

_We don't need the headlines, we just want_

_(we want the airwaves back, we want the airwaves back)_

_Everybody sing, _

_Like it's the last song you'll ever sing_

_Tell me, tell me do you feel the pressure now?_

_Everybody live_

_Like it's the last day you'll ever see_

_Tell me tell me do you feel the pressure now?_

I kept singing. The fire kept growing. As I neared the end, Matt threw the first bomb. A cloud of red smoke erupted behind me. He kept throwing bombs, alternating colors. He was having a blast, and so was the audience. The front row's marshmallows erupted into flames. Once the song ended, they all started to quiet down. Chiron stood up and told us all to go to bed, which we did, reluctantly.

_The next morning…_

"Did you all enjoy the campfire last night?" Chiron asked.

"YES!" everybody said.

"Well, that's good, because it's the last one you'll have for a while. Mr. D and I have come up with a challenge for you. You will be assigned a partner. In pairs, you will go into the woods for one week. There will be no teaming up, so it's just you and your partner. There will be no switching partners. This should -hopefully- teach you some survival skills, and also some teamwork. You have two minutes to pack, starting now." We all dashed off to our cabins to pack.

Back at the Hermes cabin, I grabbed a small bag and started stuffing everything I could find into it. A conch horn blew, and I hurried back to the pavilion. Matt was grinning. He probably had everything he needed in his coat.

Chiron started announcing partners. I wasn't paying much attention until I heard him say, "Matthew Robinson and Natalie Parker." What? I wasn't with Matt? Oh, well. It would have been nice, but I guess Chiron would never have allowed it anyways. "Erin Parman and Lief Harrison." _What? No! Anybody but Doom and Gloom! _Lief looked about as excited as I felt. "And that's it. Pair up everybody, then off to the woods." I walked over to Lief.

"Hi."

"Go away." he growled.

"No can do. I'm stuck with you for a week."

"I think I'm going to go crazy if I'm stuck with you for a week."

"For once, I'm going to have to agree with you."

"Oh, yes," Chiron continued. "You also have to know ten things about your partner that you didn't know before by the time the week is done."

"Well, that's even worse." Lief said.

"Darn right it is. You're about as easy to talk to as a dead slug." I retorted.

"And you're the one talking? I 'd rather talk to a tree then talk to you."

"Alright, everybody, it's off to the woods! See you in a week, providing nobody gets killed." Chiron ordered. Lief and I grudgingly turned towards the woods.

**A/N- And there you go. Like it? Hate it? Tell me! Please?**

**-smartone101**


	3. Day One: Drawings and Scars

**A/N- Hey peeps! Next chapter! And thelostterrorist, what does your review mean? Do you want me to redo the story? When you do one word reviews I really can't tell what you're trying to say…**

**Disclaimer- I've been re-reading the guidelines and I apparently have to do a disclaimer every chapter. D: So, I disclaim. Blahblahblah**

Chapter 3: Day One- Drawings and Scars

_Erin's POV_

"I hate you." I growl.

"I knew that already, oh brilliant one." Lief really likes laying on the sarcasm… "And just so you remember, I hate you, too."

"I know that."

"Oh. I wasn't sure your brain would be able to process that much information." This kid is _impossible._ I don't know him that well, but it has become very clear that I don't want to. For one thing, he has _no_ sense of humor. None whatsoever. Plus he keeps ragging on me about my pranks. I don't know if I'll be able to survive the week.

"So, Lief, where do we set up camp? Do we even set up a camp? What-"

"SHUT UP, would you?" Touchy.

"I just wanted to know…"

"Why do you think I know?" Lief exploded. We stopped and looked each other in the eye, his cold blue-grey eyes flashing fire. "I'm always expected to know everything, huh? Is that how it works? Well, let me fill you in on something, _sweetie. _The world isn't all cupcakes and butterflies. Life's tough. I don't know everything there is to know about it, but I sure do know a heck of a lot more then you! You know what? I give up. I've had enough. Go away." I didn't move. "GO AWAY! Just leave me alone!"

"Whoa. Calm down, Lief."

"CALM DOWN! You want me to calm down! Tell me, why should I? What's ever happened to you that's changed your entire life? Huh? Why should I listen to anything you say? You don't know anything about me. Nothing. Who are you to tell me to calm down? Can you tell me that?" Lief ranted. He broke off without letting me answer, swerved away, and dashed into the woods.

I did the only thing I really could. I dashed after him. "Lief!" I called. "Wait up!" he might drive me insane, but he's also the only person I'll see for a week. I stopped and listened for a moment, hoping I'd be able to hear him. Silence. A breaking twig, and nothing more. It occurred to me that Lief probably knew where he was going. He might not be the nicest guy in the world- far from it- but he was pretty smart. I headed in the general direction I'd seen him go.

_Lief's POV_

I ran through the woods, heading for my favorite spot. I had had enough of Erin. I didn't know her personally, but her reputation preceded her. After about five minutes together, I blew up at her. Don't blame me! She was driving me up the wall! If I had to last the whole week with her, I'd wind up in the loony bin. So I ran. I'd been this way so many times that I barely left a track, much less any noise. Besides, running helped drive the thoughts out of my head. The ones that always crawled back in there if I didn't keep busy.

"Lief! Wait up!" I heard Erin call. I came to a stop at Zeus' Fist. Honestly, it didn't look anything like a fist, even from the angle that people said it did. I sat down on a boulder and took a look at my pack. It was pretty small, but then again, I'd only had two minutes to pack. I was starting to sort through stuff when Erin came bursting into the clearing, puffing.

"Fancy seeing you here," I drawled.

"Never…do that…again, Lief," Erin panted. I allowed myself a quick smirk.

"No promises." Once she had caught her breath, Erin sat down on another boulder and looked at me, her mischievous green eyes inquisitive.

"So, you obviously have been here a lot," she said.

"If you're trying to get me to talk, you are failing miserably. I don't talk unless I need to, want to, or have to."

"Hmm. So, to answer my earlier question. Are we, in fact, setting up a camp? If so, where? How? When? What did you bring?"

"Whoa whoa whoa. Information overload. First of all, we are not setting up a camp in the general sense of the word, meaning that it is not outside. We are staying in a place I found."

"Where is this?" Erin asked, suspicious. I didn't blame her. I would be suspicious of me, too.

"Let me show you." I hopped down from the boulder and made my way over to a crack between a couple rocks. I swatted my hair out of my eyes- note to self: get haircut- and rolled one of the rocks to the side a little, revealing a small passageway. "Follow me," I smirked.

Erin gulped. "Are you sure we have to go in there?" Oh, good. Miss Prankster doesn't like being underground. This could be fun…

"Oh, yes. Unless you really feel like being out in the monster-infested woods. At _night._"

"Okay. I'll come," she said meekly. I led the way into the passage, not bothering to take out a light. "Um, Lief?" Erin asked.

I turned. She was still standing at the entrance. "What? We don't have all day, you know."

"Do you have a light?"

"Um, no. I know the way, though. Follow me. And push the rocks back together while you're at it, would ya?"

"Fine." The passage darkened.

"Now, follow me."

"I don't know where you are."

"Follow my voice," I said, scowling. I kept talking her down the passageway. "Now, stop!"

"How do you know where to stop?" she asked.

"Because I've been here more times then I can count, obviously."

"Oh."

"There's a door to your left. Go through it." I heard her shuffle towards me and stop. "Okay, now stay there." I reached for the switch and the room was illuminated. We were standing in a room, pretty small, but with a battery-run light -the one I had just switched on- a small table with a chair, and a couple old blankets on the floor.

"Whoa," Erin breathed. I smirked.

"Do I know what I'm doing or do I know what I'm doing?"

"You know what you're doing," she admitted grudgingly.

"Thank you. Now, let's see what you packed." Erin set her bag down and emptied it. A couple changes of clothes, a dagger, about five chocolate bars, a random book, and what looked suspiciously like shaving cream. "Why do you have shaving cream?" I asked.

"I don't know. I just stuffed stuff in the bag." I emptied out my bag. Six apples, a change of clothes, my bow and arrows, my sketch pad, a box of colored pencils, and a couple bottles of water. Not much. Hey, I only had two minutes. "How did you find this place, anyways?" Erin asked.

"Oh, this place? You've heard of the Labyrinth, right?"

"Yeah. But what does that have to do with this?" she asked.

"When Daedlus died, the Labyrinth collapsed. Well, actually, most of it did. Some parts couldn't entirely collapse without bringing a lot of stuff down with them. This was one of those parts. Everything but this room and the passage collapsed. I was exploring around here during Capture the Flag, saw the crack in the rocks, and decided to investigate," I explained.

"Whoa. That's cool."

"Isn't it?" We were, for some reason, acting like I never had blown up at her. I was kind of grateful for this, because when Erin wanted to know something, she usually had…methods…of getting her information.

"How come you got so mad at me back there?" Forget what I said about acting like I had never blown up at her.

"I don't know. Just leave me alone." I grabbed my sketch pad and a couple pencils and sat down in a corner, trying to draw. Erin came over and tried to look at what I was drawing. I pushed her away.

"What was that for?"

"What I draw is private."

"I just want to know. It's not like I'm going to insult you or anything."

"It's private. My. Personal. Property." I tend to be a bit protective of my art. Mostly because…_No. Don't think about it. If you don't think about it, it didn't happen._

"Whatever you say, Doom and Gloom." Hmm. Doom and Gloom. I didn't half mind it. Summed me up pretty well. I started in on the shading.

"That's right, Bomber Girl. Whatever I say." Hey, if she gives me a nickname, I give her one.

"Yep. Hey- Bomber Girl? Really?"

I smirked. "Really."

"So you'll let me see what you're drawing now?" She never gives up, does she?

"No. My art is my own." I added a finishing touch to my drawing and put my pencil down. It was pretty good for a quick sketch.

"Come on, Lief. I just want to see it."

"Fine. Whatever. But then you can't keep asking to let me show you anything else."

"Okay." She came over and I tilted my drawing down so she could see it. It was a quick sketch of Erin and Matt, standing together and laughing their heads off. They were in their pranking clothes, Matt was holding his hat, and Erin had a hand on her dagger hilt. It scares me sometimes, how I can draw somebody or something in a few quick lines and yet capture their personality.

Erin stared at it for a moment before I closed my pad. "Can I see the others?" she asked.

"No." I snapped. My drawings to me are like what music, or pranking, or talking to dead people, or dancing, what those are to other people, my art is to me. Nobody really understands me. I think they're afraid of me, and that's how I like it. Plus, I'm afraid of trusting anybody. Well, not really afraid. It's more like I don't want to- Stop. Don't. Think. About. It.

"You don't have to be so mean."

"Mean? So I'm mean, huh? Is that how it is? Well, Parman, I may seem mean to you, but if I do, that's because you don't know. You haven't ever been out there. Out in the real world. It's hard and cold out there. It'll chew you up and spit you out unless you get hard. So that you can't feel anymore, there's nothing left for you to care about. That -_ that _- is how it was for me. You know, Parman? You don't know me. You don't know my past. You don't know who I am. All you know is that my name is Lief Harrison, I'm a son of Apollo, 15, and as sarcastic as anybody could be." I set my drawing pad down and leaned my head back against the wall, closing my eyes. My hair slid back out of my face, revealing the scar that stretched across my hairline, down my right temple, back under my ear, and down the side of my neck. I heard Erin gasp, and keeping my eyes closed, continued to talk. "See? You didn't know that was there, now did you?"

"No. but I know that you like depressing music, you despise pranks, you draw a lot, and that you're always hanging you with those twins from Nemesis. Who are they? Tia and Noel?"

"No, you idiot. It's _Theo_ and _Noah._"

"See. I know some things about you, don't I?"

"Ah, but you only skim the surface. Those are all superficial things." I rubbed my neck, "What time is it?"

"Noon. Can we eat?"

"Have an apple and half a chocolate bar. We don't want to run out of food too quickly."

"What about you?"

"I'm not hungry." And it was true. I wasn't hungry. All of a sudden, I wasn't sure I should have told Erin about my scar. Nobody else knows about it except Theo and Noah. Ah, well. What's done is done. I wonder what the rest of this week is going to be like.

"Just for the record, I still hate you," Erin said.

"Back at you," I replied, smiling slightly.

"Did I ever tell you how absolutely honored I am to have someone like you hate me?" Erin asked.

"No, you didn't. Nice thing to know, though. I wish I could say the same, but it's not exactly an honor to be hated by a child of Hermes." Same as it always has been. Then why am I suddenly wary, just in case Erin…_STOP, Harrison_. _Don't. Think. About. It._

**A/N- And there you go. What's Lief hiding? How'd he get his scar? What is he so afraid of? Why am I asking these pointless questions? Review? Please? I'll bribe you with the next chapter…Not really. I'll update anyways, but reviews are always nice…**

**Oh, yes, and a quick thing. A challenge, so to speak. It's called: Guess the State! The rules: PM me with your guess as to what state I live in. Guesses in reviews are not accepted. Two guesses per person. Winner gets…A MYSTERY PRIZE! (really, did you think I'd tell you?) Guess away!**

**-smartone101**


	4. Night One: Nightmares and Sketches

**A/N- Hi! You know, I think this might be one of my favorite stories… So here's Chapter 4! (Confession time: I'm still working out the kinks of Lief's past…but it'll turn out pretty well, I think) **

**Guess the State contest: iamtheblueskittle won! Right away! First guess! I'm amazed. (btw, the answer was Minnesota.)**

**Disclaimer- Whatever. I really don't need this because you all know…but the rules say I have to, so I disclaim.**

Chapter 4: Night 1- Nightmares and Sketches

_Erin's POV_

The rest of the day went…fairly smoothly. I read the book I had brought, which turned out to be a murder mystery belonging to one of my brothers. It was pretty good. Lief didn't blow up at me and instead went for a walk. After sunset, he came back, with a couple leaves in his hair and a scratch across his face. "Hungry?" I asked.

"Not really." He's never hungry. I made a mental note to make sure he ate the next day.

"You're never hungry."

"Don't' bug me about it, Erin. I'm too tired to be bugged." He sat down against the wall and grabbed his sketch pad. I had been going to flip through it while Lief was walking, but decided against it on the grounds that he could came back in and I'd never know it. He makes about as much noise as a cat. Personally, I think the boots he wears have something to do with it. He always wears these leather boots that apparently have no rubber soles and allow him to move absolutely silently.

"Are you sure you're not hungry?" I pressed.

"Erin, I'm really not. I'd rather not have to yell at you again. You can eat if you want."

"I ate."

"Then go to sleep. It's late."

"How do you know?"

"I have a watch."

"Oh."

"You can use the blankets. I'll be fine."

"You'll get stiff sleeping on stone, you know." I said.

"Whoever said I'd be sleeping on the floor?" Lief asked before laying down on the table and closing his eyes.

"You're sleeping on the table?" I asked, disbelieving.

"Yeah. Your point being…what?"

"Nobody sleeps on tables."

"I do. Now shut up and turn off the light." I turned off the light and lay down on the blankets. They were old and smelled funny, but they were thick. As I was about to drift off to sleep, I realized something.

"Lief?"

"What?"

"You sleep with your boots on?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Most people don't sleep with their shoes on."

"I do. And they aren't shoes, they're _boots_. Now go to sleep."

"'kay. G'night, Lief."

"Good night, Bomber Girl. Now shut up and go to sleep." _That defeats the purpose of saying_ good_ night,_ I thought as I drifted off to sleep.

A piercing scream woke me up a while later. I jumped up and flicked on the light. Lief was still on the table, and still sleeping, but was shaking and covered in a cold sweat. I went over to make sure nothing was wrong. "Lief? What's wrong?" I murmured. Hey, I can be serious when I have to.

"No…NO! STOP! Just make it stop, make it stop…" Lief trailed off. His dark brown hair was messy and so sweat-soaked it looked black. I started shaking him, not knowing what else to do.

"Lief! LIEF!" I was starting to panic a little. What could be so horrible that it would make Lief, cold, hard, stoic Lief, scream like that?

Lief opened his eyes and looked up at me. The usually hard blue-grey eyes were large and dilated in fear. "Erin?"

"I'm right here."

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You were screaming. And saying things."

"What did I say?" Lief said, sitting up and suddenly looking panicked.

"Just something about making it stop." Lief looked a bit more relieved.

"Good."

"What was all that about? Did you have a nightmare?" I asked.

"You have no idea what it was all about. Nor do you want to know. Nor am I going to tell you."

"Why not?"

"Just shut up, would you, Parman?"

"You know, I just woke you up from a nightmare, I'm not sure you should be snapping at me."

"Nightmare? NIGHTMARE? Erin, when you've seen what I've seen in those dreams, you wouldn't call it a nightmare. You wouldn't know what to call it. And neither do I. Your worst nightmare is like a fluffy little dream compared with that- that- dream."

"Lief, it's okay. Nothing's happened. It's okay."

Lief turned away from me and lay back down. "No," he choked out. "It's not okay. Nothing will ever be okay. And it's all my fault. Nothing happened, you say? Maybe to you, no. But me? I've seen too much, so much has happened. Be glad you're not me, Erin Parman. Be glad you're not me."

I wasn't sure what to do. Or what to say. So I just did what seemed right. I sat down on the edge of the table, grabbed Lief's shoulders, and pulled him into a hug. Hey, he looked like he needed it. He tensed for a moment before relaxing. After about thirty seconds he pulled away and turned the other way. I grabbed his shoulders and turned him back toward me. I nearly gasped. Lief's eyes were closed and tears were leaking out of the corners. He looked a lot younger then 15. "Lief, what's wrong?" I asked. He shook his head, obviously not trusting his voice. "Lief, you need to tell me."

"No," Lief said.

"Lief-"

"-Listen to me for a moment, would you? Erin, you really don't want to know what I would have to tell you. Trust me for once when I say that you don't want to know. Now please, let me sleep. It's three in the morning and unlike the other Apollo children, I do not appreciate being woken up early." Lief's eyes bored into mine. They had gone back to their normal cold look, but pain still lingered there, along with a touch of fear.

"Alright, Lief. But if you ever want to tell me-"

"I don't."

"-you can." I turned off the light, and within a couple minutes, Lief's breathing was slow and steady again. I waited a while longer to make sure he was asleep before I quietly got up, taking a penlight out of my pocket. I snuck over to the table and pulled Lief's sketch pad out from under the chair. Then I sat back down on the blankets to take a look. I felt a little guilty, but I was really curious.

I flipped open the cover and started to look through the pages. The first few were of objects, and a couple looked like a little kid had drawn them. Once I got to the people, I started to go more slowly. There were a couple drawings of people around camp. There was a sketch of Chiron in a hoop skirt that nearly made me laugh. _Curse Lief's imagination._ There was a picture of Theo and Noah. Frankly, I could only tell them apart because Noah's knife was always peeking out of his pocket.

Matt and I jumping off the roof of the Hephaestus cabin, alight with flames…Connor, Travis, Matt, and I planning and pulling off a big prank on the Aphrodite cabin when the Stolls had come back for a visit…Percy and his little sister Autumn. Autumn was 13 and Percy was about 25, but the way they were grinning, you would have thought they were best friends. I started flipping again, through so many people that Lief had drawn. Finally, I stopped. Lief had drawn a self-portrait. He stood stiffly, hands jammed deep inside his pockets. His head was down and his hair fell in his eyes, but you couldn't mistake the pain, anger, and pure hate in his eyes. He looked like the picture of revenge.

I tore out a piece of paper and grabbed a pencil. Placing my blank piece of paper over Lief's drawing, I made a reasonably good copy. Then taking my pencil, I started sketching a little. When I finished five minutes later, two large, black wings stretched from Lief's shoulders. _Oh, wow. He looks like the angel of death, _I thought. He really did. I flipped to the next page and stopped again. Lief- at least I think it was Lief- was standing with an older woman and two little girls. Lief looked a lot younger. He was smiling. Smiling. Lief. And not just any smile. A full, genuine grin. Ear to ear. I looked at the next few pages. Darkness, street corners, and alleyways reigned. There was a close-up of a rat that looked like the beast might come out of the page and attack me.

I turned back to the drawing of Lief and the girls. Noticing something, I took a closer look at the page. Crinkled splotches turned out to be dried tears. Lief had been crying when he drew this. A voice, rough with sleep, startled me.

"What are you doing with my sketchbook?" Lief growled, jumping down from the table and grabbing it.

"Nothing."

"You were looking at it," Lief said, his voice cold and dangerous. "After I'd told you not to. Isn't that so?"

I gulped. "Yes."

"What did you see?" He looked down at the page and his expression hardened. I backed up against the wall. Lief was scaring me. Like, _really_ scaring me.

"Nothing?"

"Don't lie to me, Parman." Lief strode toward me. I shrank back into the wall. Lief put his hands on my shoulders and pushed them back, pinning me. I looked up and into his eyes. Big mistake. They looked like the eyes in Lief's self-portrait, cold, hard, and deadly.

"Lief-"

"Don't try to explain. There's no need to. There is no possible good reason why you would be looking in _MY SKETCHBOOK!_" Lief roared. I was scared. Really scared. Lief looked mad. Worse then mad. Lief looked like he was full of enough hate and anger to stop a train in its tracks. The worst part? It seemed to be directed at me.

"Lief?"

"Shut up. Now." A knife was placed in the hollow of my throat. I glanced down and realized it was my knife. Lief's hand was shaking, although whether it was because of anger or nervousness I couldn't tell. I guessed it was anger. Trying to escape, I kicked Lief in the shin. He winced and I slid away, out the door, down the hall, and into the woods.

_Lief's POV_

I'll admit it. I was angry. Erin had been looking in my sketchbook. And not just at any picture. She had found The Picture. When she slipped out of the room, I felt like chasing her with the knife. I didn't, and instead sat down at the table. I looked at my sketchbook, flipping randomly through the pages. I paused a moment at a sketch of Autumn. The daughter of Poseidon was like a mix between Erin and I, funny, sarcastic, violent, and yet managing to be nice at least half the time. I smiled in spite of myself. She always managed to make me laugh.

I drew a couple pictures, calming me down considerably. One almost made me laugh. It was the time that Noah and Theo had caught Matt and Erin trying to prank them. The twins had cornered the pranking duo. Noah had whipped out his knife and Theo was smirking. Matt looked like he was trying to talk his way out of it, while Erin looked scared. She never had liked Noah. Especially his knife.

I heard a little scuffling and looked up. Erin was peeking into the room from the door. "You can come in," I said.

"Okay." She sat down on the blankets.

"Sorry if I scared you."

"'s okay." Erin didn't press any further, which I was glad about. I couldn't shake my dream from my head, no matter what I did.

"Erin?"

"Yeah?" She still looked nervous.

"What do you do to get rid of nightmares?"

"Um…I prank somebody with Matt."

"Well, that won't help. It's not like there's anybody for me to prank here."

"Your nightmare from earlier?" Erin asked.

"Yeah." I remembered Erin's hug. Her hair smelled like smoke and machines. I suppose that's what comes from hanging out with Matthew the Bomber.

"It'll go away." Erin said.

We sat in silence for a moment. "Thanks," I said.

"For what?" Erin looked genuinely confused.

"For being there."

"Oh. You're welcome, I guess." _Erin's seeming nicer then I'd have thought. Still, I should be careful. You can never be too careful._

**A/N- There you go. Autumn was submitted by the amazing winner, iamtheblueskittle. Submitting a character was the prize for the correct guess. Thank you, iamtheblueskittle! Review?**

**-smartone101**


	5. Day Two: Rain

**A/N- Hey! I was in a writing mood, so here's chapter 5! For those of you who are wondering about Lief's past, that won't be revealed until Day 4, at the earliest. Day 5 or 6, at the most. *evil smirk* Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer- The evil rainbow unicorn-bunnies are coming, trust me. ;D But until they do, I don't own PJO. For that matter, I don't own the evil rainbow unicorn-bunnies, either. I do, however, own Lief and Erin. Any resemblance to people living or dead is not intended. **

Chapter 5: Day 2- Rain

_Erin's POV_

The next day it rained. Normally it doesn't at camp, but sometimes Mr. D had to let some in so that the strawberries would grow. The second day in the woods was a downpour. For the first part of the day, Lief and I sat together in the room, stonily silent. Lief sketched. I read more of my murder mystery. It was quite intriguing. Note to self: Steal Konrad's books more often. They're good.

Lief was acting like last night had never happened. Like I had never taken his sketchbook. Like I had never stumbled upon the picture of Lief and two young girls that Lief had been crying on. Like Lief had never almost killed me. In a way, I was glad. At least I wouldn't have to explain why I took it. "Erin?" Lief's voice broke the silence.

"What?" I looked up from my book. For those of you who want to know, it was_ And Then There Were None_.

"Why'd you do it?" Lief sounded genuinely curious.

"Do what?"

"Why'd you take my sketchbook?"

Oh. "Um…well…I wanted to know why you wouldn't let me look at it." I managed. The last thing I wanted was for Lief to get in a rage like last night. Honestly, I think he would have killed me if I hadn't run.

"Ah. The forbidden fruit, so to speak." Lief seemed calm. You never could tell with him, though.

"Um…yeah."

"Was it worth it?"

"What?"

"Was looking my sketchbook worth my wrath?" "Well…kind of."

"How so?"

"It was worth it because I got to see part of you that I hadn't seen before."

"And that would be?"

"Your sensitive side." I'm sorry, but sometimes I just have to put things bluntly.

Lief laughed, a cold short laugh that held no real mirth. "I see."

"It wasn't worth it because I still don't know anything about your past."

"So it was really about my ever-elusive past, eh?"

"I guess. I'm sorry I took your book. I really am." It was still worth it to see the pictures, but I was sorry.

"'s okay. Just don't do it again, please."

"I'll try not to. No promises, though."

There was silence for a minute. Then Lief spoke again, "Tell me a story."

"What?"

"A story. Something that has happened to you. As in part of your history."

"Okay. Why?"

"Because if you insist upon looking in my sketchbook, it's only fair that you tell me something."

"Sounds fair." I thought for a moment. An idea was growing my head. "How'd you like to hear about when I met Matt for the first time?"

"Oh boy. Erin the pranking whiz meets Matthew the bomber. This could be good." Lief closed his sketch pad and leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes. I tried not to look at his scar.

"Ready for this?"

"When you are."

"So, I was about 12. You know I used to live in Augusta, right?"

"Yeah."

"So I was down by my house, taking a walk. I go down the alley, and suddenly I hear this strange rustling noise. I turn around, and suddenly I feel something pressing against my back. 'Don't move if you value your life,' this voice says. I remember that it sounded like a little kid's voice, yet it sounded pretty serious about killing me, too.

"'Who are you?' I ask.

"'It doesn't matter. Put your hands in the air and empty your pockets.'

"I smile, even though I was in danger. 'You realize that is an absurd request, right?' I ask.

"'Why's it absurd?' the voice asks.

"'Because I can't put my hands in the air and empty my pockets at the same time,' I say.

"'Oh' the kid says, and I swear I could practically see his embarrassment even though he wasn't facing me.

"'So, how 'bout you take that knife off my back and I'll show you how to hold somebody up the right way, 'kay?' I ask.

"The kid considers it for a minute. 'And you'll still give me the money?' he asks.

"'Of course.' I really had no intention of giving him the money, but that knife was digging into my back. He took the knife off my back and I turned around. I was facing this red-headed kid, about my age. His hair was sticking up all over the place-"

"Like it always does," Lief interrupted.

"And he had a streak of dirt across his face. He looked scared stiff. 'So, how 'bout we start with some introductions.' I say. 'I'm Erin. Who're you?'

"'I'm Matt.' he mumbles.

"'Okay. So, Matt, is this your first holdup?' I ask.

"'Yeah,' he says.

"'Well, for your first time, you did a pretty good job. You started out right, putting your knife on my back. That scares a person right away. What you said right away helped too. You want to let the person know that you're serious.'"

"You were giving a kid instructions on how to properly hold somebody up?" Lief asked.

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Nothing. You're definitely Hermes' kid."

"Hmm. So I kept giving him instructions. He practiced on me a couple times until I was sure he had it perfectly. Afterwards, I gave him my address and twenty dollars. I didn't see him again until Camp Half-Blood. But that, Lief, is a story for another day."

"Hmm. Quite an interesting story, if I do say so myself," Lief said.

"Lief?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"What is it?"

"Where did you get those boots?"

"Why?"

"I just want to know."

"My mother made them," Lief murmured before dashing out of the room and out into the rain.

_Things learned about Lief Harrison:_

_1. Is an amazing artist_

_2. Has cool boots that his mother made him_

_3. Can't stand talking about his past_

Hmph. 3 out of 10. Tomorrow, I decided, I'd find out more.

_Lief's POV_

_Why would Erin want to know where my boots came from? _I wondered as I ran out into the rain. For a while I just ran. Running will do more then anything else to get the memories out of my head. Because if I stay still too long or think too hard or talk too much, it will come out. And the memories will come back.

I stopped running when I hit the stream. I have a strong aversion to water because…Wait. Stop. Not there, Lief. Don't go there. I walked back to Zeus' Fist and climbed to the top. I sat there for a while in the rain, leaning against a boulder. I've always liked the rain. Finally, the memories came back, just like they always do. And I sat there in the rain. Crying. And letting the rain mingle with my tears until you couldn't tell the difference.

About half an hour later, I climbed down from Zeus' Fist and headed back inside. Erin was pacing up and down the room. "Lief! Where were you?" She cried when I came back in.

"Out."

"Lief. Where were you?"

"Running."

"Don't do that to me again, Lief. I was worried."

"Sorry." I sat down when something struck me. "You were worried? About me?"

"Of course I was worried, you idiot."

"Thanks," I murmured, so softly that I wasn't sure she heard. We spent the rest of the day inside.

That night, as I lay on the table trying to fall asleep, I heard Erin whisper, "You're welcome." I smiled in the dark. The nightmares came back that night. I woke up in the middle of the night covered in a cold sweat. Quietly I slipped out of the room and went outside. It was still raining. I stood there in the rain for a minute before sinking down to the ground. I sat there, hugging my knees to my chest, until I fell asleep. And that was where Erin found me in the morning.

**A/N- There we go. I know it's short, but it's an update. Review?**

**-smartone101**


	6. Day Three: Sneezes and Games

**A/N- Chapter 6. Not much else to say except a big thank-you to all reviewers. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer- Do I have to say it? *Rick Riordan's lawyer walks in with a big official-looking briefcase* Fine. I don't own PJO. Whatever.**

Chapter 6: Day 3: Sneezes and Games

_Lief's POV_

Somebody was shaking me. Hard. I curled into a tighter ball and willed them to go away. The shaking stopped, and for a moment, all was silent. Then somebody tried to lift my eyelids. I groaned and sat up so fast I hit my head on something hard. "What's going on?" I asked, rubbing my head.

"Lief! Never do that to me again!" _Oh, right. It's Erin._

"Huh? Do what?"

"I woke up this morning and you were gone! What were you doing?" Erin rubbed her head. _Oh. That's what I hit._

"Um…well, I went outside to sit in the rain and kind of fell asleep," I said, rubbing my back. Sleeping outside really makes you stiff.

"Lief, you idiot! It was _raining_! You got soaked through. You're probably going to get sick or something."

"That, Erin, is why I went outside. Because it was raining. I like the rain. Besides, I hardly ever get sick." I sneezed. Well, so much for not getting sick.

"You like the rain?"

"Yeah." Another sneeze.

"How can you like the rain? You're like the child of the sun and that doesn't make sense that you'd like the rain," Erin said, seemingly unconcerned about my sneezing.

"I just like the rain. Is that so strange?" I asked. Really, I quite like the rain. It helps to blot everything out, including all the memories.

"Yes, it is. Now get up, go inside, and get some dry clothes on. Your clothes are soaked." I looked down and realized that Erin was right. My clothes were indeed soaked. I looked up. The rain had stopped, but the sky was still overcast. A light breeze was blowing and I shivered.

"I'm not cold," I protested, even though it was a lie. As if punctuating my sentence, I sneezed again.

"You might not feel cold, but you are sneezing Lief - Oh, darn, I don't know your middle name."

"Why do you need to know my middle name?" I asked.

"Just because. Plus it sounds more impressive, like Matthew Timothy Robinson or Erin Judith Parman."

"Your middle name is Judith?" I asked. It seemed an odd name for someone like Erin.

"What's it to you?"

"Nothing. It just seems odd that-" I cut myself off before I started to talk about That Which is Not To Be Talked or Thought About. The past.

"That what?" Erin asked, tilting her head slightly to the side like she always did when she asked a question.

"Nothing," I mumbled. "It's not important." I sneezed again. Curse this stupid cold that I seemed to have picked up overnight.

"Just- go inside, Lief." Erin ordered. Frankly, I didn't mind having to go inside, but the chances that I was going to tell Erin that was about the chance of ice cubes surviving in Tartarus. Just saying. Anyways, I went inside like Erin ordered and changed into my one spare set of dry clothes. Afterwards, I went out of the cave only to find that Erin was gone.

"Erin?" I called. No answer. "Erin!" I was about to go looking for her when she burst out of some brush.

"Hi Lief!"

"What were you doing?"

"Me?"

"No, not you. Because there's so many people around here that it couldn't possibly be you. Yes, you, Erin." Sarcasm- my first language. And my favorite as well.

"Oh. Nothing." I sneezed again.

"Oh, yes, of course. Because there's such a huge possibility that you would be doing nothing by- a tree covered in berries?"

"Yes, a tree with berries. They're good." Erin popped a berry in her mouth. I gaped at her.

"How do you know those aren't poisonous?"

"Because unlike _some_ people, I've seen chokecherries before."

"Chokecherries? What is a chokecherry?" Hey. Don't look at me funny. I'd honestly never seen a chokecherry before.

"It's a type of edible berry. It's really quite good." Erin smirked and offered me a berry. I reluctantly took it and popped it in my mouth. A second later I spat it out.

"You call that good? That's _tart._ Very much so. Actually, it's a bit more then tart. I think it completely dried out my mouth."

"Yes, I call that good," Erin said, slightly exasperated and chewing on another handful of chokecherries. "And they're supposed to be tart, Lief. That's why they're called _choke_cherries."

"Oh," I said, turning a most unflattering shade of cherry and sneezing.

"So, what do you want to do?" Erin asked, curious.

"Why?" I replied.

"What do you mean, why?" Erin started. "Do you need a reason?"

"Yes, yes I do."

"Okay. I don't really know you that well. You're not blowing up at me for once. Need any more reasons?"

"No," I said. There was silence for a minute. "What was the question in the first place?" I felt kind of stupid asking that, but I really couldn't remember. Haven't you ever started talking about something and then- Wait. Who am I talking to? I sneezed.

"What do you want to do?" Erin repeated.

"Oh. I don't know."

"Okay, then. Since you don't know, then I'll just have to pick. But you have to put up with whatever I choose. 'kay?"

"Whatever." I wasn't really in a mood for talking, but Erin's not really the type that'll let you alone.

"Hmm…"Erin was thinking out loud now. "I'd say truth or dare, but that's really cliché and plus there's only the two of us. We don't really have any board games. Simple stuff like tic-tac-toe would be useless. I've got it!" She suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" I asked. This conversation may have been pointless, but it sure helped me get my mind off what had happened two years ago…

"It's something you've probably never heard of. It's called First Impression."

"First Impression?" I asked. That sounded totally lame. But hey, might as well give it a shot… "What is it, and how do you play?"

"It's a game, obviously, and I'll explain as we play." Oh, great. Explain-as-we-go. I always hated that kind of game. "Now, we need a spot to sit," Erin mused.

"Inside?"

"No. I've been in there more then I can handle for now."

"Top of Zeus' Fist?" I asked.

"Sure." We climbed up. I went first, with Erin following more slowly. Once I got to the top, I turned back to wait for her. A couple minutes later, Erin came up.

"So, how do you play this?" I asked.

"Well, how about we just play?"

"Fine," I muttered.

"So, name a random person I know." Erin instructed. I thought for a moment before picking the first person that came to mind.

"Mr. D." I smirked.

"You _would_ pick him!" Erin groaned.

"Well, what do you do?" I asked.

"Now I have to give my first impression of him, what I first thought when I saw him."

"So…"

"What?"

"Go on…"

"Okay, fine," Erin grumbled. "I thought he looked like an idiot. Happy?"

"Um, no, not really, since I really don't want to be playing this game." I said.

"Well, you're stuck with it anyways. Now, your turn. Autumn." We went on like that for a while. Not my ideal for spending a morning, but it worked.

_Things Learned about Erin_

_1. Likes chokecherries_

_2. Knows strange and useless games like First Impressions_

_3. Pranks to get rid of nightmares_

_4. Has a strange and unusual interest in my past_

_5. Is, in fact, scared of Theo and Noah, but won't admit it._

Hmph. 5 out of ten. I wasn't doing too badly…

_Erin's POV_

I started to think playing First Impressions was a bad idea when Lief asked me about Theo and Noah. Frankly, they scare me. I answered the question, but I didn't really tell the truth. What? I didn't want Lief to know I was scared of the twins! "You're lying," Lief accused me.

I gasped. "Me, lie? That never happens." I scoffed.

Lief smirked. "Yes it does. I'm not as dumb as you think I am. I can tell when you're lying."

"I'm not lying!" I insisted. "I'm not scared of Theo and Noah."

"Yeah right."

_Darn. He knows me too well. How does he know me this well? We've only really talked for what? Two days? _I thought. I decided just to ask Lief a question. "Lief?"

"What?" Lief sounded bored.

"Do you want to keep playing this?"

"No. I didn't want to play this in the first place, you know." Lief started to climb down, but I stopped him.

"Wait."

"What?"

"This has to be even. I get one more question."

"Fine. But this better be fast."

"It will be. Camp Half-Blood."

Lief's face twisted into what could have been pain or just another sneer like the ones I'd seen him direct at other people. "You have no right to ask me that," he growled.

"I have just as much right as anybody else," I said.

"Right? _Right_? Who are you to be talking about rights? You have no right to know anything about me, you know that? I don't have to tell you anything. You know something, Erin Parman? I keep telling you little things, little bits of information, and all you want is more. Did I ever ask you about your past? No. Do you ever stop asking about mine? No. Who are you to be talking about rights. Can you tell me that?" Lief's voice was quiet but as cold as steel. See, the thing is with Lief is that you never know what's going to set him off. I tried to calm him down before he blew up.

"I'm- I'm sorry," I said.

"Sorry? Sorry has nothing to do with this! What do you have to be sorry for? Huh? Huh? Can you tell me that? You don't have the weight, you don't know how it feels, you don't-"

"Don't what?" I asked. I could practically feel the tension in the air. Plus, I could sense that Lief was about to divulge something.

"Don't ask. Don't talk about it. Don't ask about it. You know what? Just leave me alone for once. What nobody gets is that I just want to be left alone." Lief started to climb down again.

"You know, Lief, if you're left alone, you'll just wallow in your guilt for- for whatever happened."

"How would you know? Are you some kind of an expert on this or something? 'Cause if you are, I sure ain't coming to you for advice. I've been perfectly fine when people just _leave me ALONE!_ So go off, do whatever you want, just stay away from me. Or else." He jumped the rest of the way to the ground and took off into the woods. Again. Will he ever stop doing that? I jumped down and started to follow him before I realized I wouldn't have a hope of catching him. I was about to head back into the cave when I heard a scream. And not just any scream. A scream I'd heard in the middle of the night. Lief's scream.

**A/N- There you go! Hope you liked it! Review?**

**-smartone101**


	7. Day 3, Part 2,to Day 4, Part 1: Wounds

**A/N- Whoo! I'm back! And since I missed you all **_**so**_** much *fake sniffle*, I brought you a present! *creepy smile* It's…AN UPDATE! Yay! And…THE SON OF NEPTUNE IS COMING OUT! REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY SOON! *fangirl squeal* Anyways…*looks embarrassed by all the commotion* Here's the chapter…Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer- I would just leave this out, but Mr. D threatened to turn me into a grape, so I disclaim. **

Chapter 7: Day Three, Part Two/ Day Four, Part One

_Erin's POV_

I ran in the direction of Lief's scream, hoping I wasn't too late. I unsheathed my dagger as I ran, preparing for a fight. I ran into a clearing and stopped suddenly, surprised by what I saw. Lief was backed up against a tree. His bow was on the ground, out of reach. Something was leaning over him. Its back was to me, which meant that Lief was facing me. His face surprised me. It was surprisingly calm, but held just a trace of pain and fear. There was also something that I had never seen before on Lief. Hate. Pure, cold, dangerous hate. His eyes caught mine. He made a small motion for me to stay back.

I took a closer look at whatever was leaning over him. For a second it seemed to flicker between two forms, before settling on one. Flaming hair, pale skin, a metal leg and a donkey leg…an empousa. This couldn't be good. She hadn't seen me yet, as she was too concentrated on Lief. I heard her hiss something, and leaned in to try to hear it. "You can't control me," Lief growled. Did I miss something here?

"You are wrong. I can control you. Watch." Lief closed his eyes, but the empousa forced them open. He looked directly at her. His eyes were blazing with pure, unrestrained hate and a cold fury that scared me. Lief looked scary, to put it simply. Suddenly, that disappeared. Lief shrank back against the tree and his breath came more quickly. He blinked rapidly, but his gaze remained locked to the empousa's eyes. He winced.

"You are not in control. You can try, but I'm not like everybody else." Lief said. I think I may have been the only one who heard the slight quiver in Lief's voice.

"Oh, I know you better then you think. And I'm going to finish you off, no matter how much you struggle. Just like with everybody else," the empousa sneered.

Lie gasped like he had been punched, but quickly straightened up, eyes flashing defiance. "Fine then. Go ahead. It's not like there's really anything left for me to live for. Or anybody who'll care when I'm dead." He flashed me a glance before standing straight, back against the tree. He closed his eyes and made his face blank.

"Lief, no!" I cried. The empousa whirled. Lief didn't. "You can't just let her kill you!"

"Watch me," Lief murmured. "If it is my time to die, then it is my time to die."

"You can't! What will people think? How will Theo and Noah feel? What about Will?" _What about me?_ I thought.

"Theo and Noah have each other. Will has other people to care about. And frankly, I've never cared what people think."

"Never?" The empousa cooed. "You've cared. Oh, you've cared."

"Not now. Now, there's nothing left for me. Go ahead. Kill me if you like."

The empousa looked suspicious. "No struggling?" she asked.

"None."

"Then I believe I'll enjoy this." She turned back to Lief, a cruel smile on her face. "Now, what shall we start with, hmm? Perhaps…Ah. We'll start with the eyes. Open your eyes, sweetie."

Lief opened his eyes and stared coolly at the empousa. "I'm not afraid, you know."

"You should be." The empousa lifted her hand showing a dagger, sharp as pain. She raised it, about to make a slash across Lief's eye. Before I knew what I was doing, I lunged forward, my knife in hand. The empousa seemed to sense that I was coming, though, as she turned right before I stabbed her. Her dagger flashed and the side of my head exploded in pain. I crumpled to the ground as the empousa turned back to Lief…

…and into a knife. She let out a wail as she crumpled into dust. She had time for one last strike, though. Her knife was flung forward and into Lief's side. He groaned and fell beside me. We were both gasping. "Lief?" I asked.

"Yeah?" His voice was faint.

"You really would have let her kill you, right?"

"Yeah. It's not like anybody would really mourn me."

"You're wrong. I would have." I said. I wasn't sure whether we were dying or not, but it seemed important that Lief knew this.

"Really?" Lief gasped. His voice was low and his breathing was ragged.

"Really."

"Thank you." He fell silent. I struggled to sit up and looked over at Lief. He was lying very still.

"Lief?" No answer. "LIEF!" Still nothing. "You can't be…_dead_." Yet he seemed to be very much so. I felt like just laying back down and crying, but managed not to. _Ambrosia? We didn't bring any, did we? _I was about to give up, but remembered something. Lief shouldn't have had a knife, should he? It wasn't in his pack…_His boots! He must keep something in there…_

I pulled one of his boots off with difficulty. Blood was getting in my eyes and I fiercely wiped it away. There were pockets lining the inside. I checked through them. Nothing of any importance. I pulled off his other boot. _Please, please, please. Let there be something, _I begged. Wait…at the very bottom there was something hard. I pulled it out. A piece of wood. No, a box. But there was nothing in it. I gave up then. Gave up for both of us. Lief was laying there on the ground, looking very dead. My head was starting to spin, lights flashing in front of me. I fell forward, my head resting on Lief's chest, and started to let go. Just before everything went black, I heard voices. "Who's that?" One said.

"It's that gloomy Apollo kid."

"And Erin."

"What's wrong with them?"

"Hey, Erin?"

"Erin?"

"Oh, dang, something's wrong. Look at all that blood."

"And that knife."

"Come on, Travis, we've gotta do something." I saw a blurry face leaning over me and felt something like a ragged, slow breath go through Lief before I lapsed into unconsciousness.

_Later…_

I opened my eyes slowly. Somebody was leaning over me. Somebody very familiar. "Travis?"

"No, Erin, it's Connor."

"Connor? But you're-"

"I'm here now." I reached up to where the throbbing in my head was coming from. There were a bunch of bandages. "Don't mess with that," Connor scolded. He looked serious instead of the usual carefree big brother he had been.

"What happened?"

"How am I supposed to know that? Travis and I just found you."

"Lief?"

"Who's Lief?" Connor asked, confused.

"Lief is the gloomy Apollo kid."

"Oh, him. He's in worse shape then you are."

"Where is he?" I asked. _Lief, you better not be dead._

"I don't remember. I think Travis is with him."

"Connor, I need to know. Where is Lief? Is he going to be okay?"

Connor looked at me. "I don't know where or how he is. I've been in charge of you, along with Noah. Theo and Travis have been taking care of Lief. They're better at all that medical-" He made a face, "-stuff."

"Noah and Theo?"

"Oh, yeah. We kind of found them before we found you and Lief. They said they'd heard something going on and wanted us to investigate."

"Can I see him?" I asked.

"Why are you so worried about him? He's not your boyfriend or anything, is he? 'Cause I've never liked him, and if he's done anything to you…" Connor trailed off threateningly.

I had to laugh, even though it made my head hurt. "Since when did you get so suspicious? He's not my boyfriend. We just got stuck together for this weeklong survival thing."

"Good. And I'm not suspicious. I'm just worried about you."

"I'm not going to die, Connor."

"Huh. You were just about there when we found you."

"Stop being so serious, Connor. How's life been treating you?"

Connor grinned. "You should have seen the pranks we pulled! Travis and I have been banned from sharing a room because we were 'planning too many pranks and not doing enough studying'. We were passing all our classes!"

"Barely," I muttered.

"Anyways, we pulled this awesome prank with the salt and pepper shakers…" Connor kept going, but I wasn't really listening.

"Where are we, anyways?" I asked.

"Oh this. We're at Theo and Noah's camp. One of them was a genius and brought a tent. Lief- I think he's at that cave he found."

"He is? I've got to go see how he is!"

"No-" Connor started, but it was too late. I'd jumped up and started for the door. _Lief, I'm coming…_

_Lief's POV_

When I woke up, my head was spinning and my side hurt. "You're awake," somebody observed.

"Theo?"

"The one and only."

"Where am I?"

"You're in that nifty cave you found," Theo said, running a hand through his hair and making it stick up.

"What happened? How long was I out? Where's Erin?"

"First of all, I don't know what happened. I just saw Travis carrying you into our camp. You were looking very dead, man. We've been taking care of you, and I think you're gonna pull through. You were out for about…oh, maybe 23 or so hours. Erin…she's the pranking girl, right?"

"Yeah."

"She's fine. Or at least I think she is. Connor and Noah are taking care of her."

I let out a sigh of relief. Erin was okay, Suzie was dead…(**A/N- Suzie is the empousa)** "I- I should be dead." I said.

"Yes, you should. You took that dagger pretty hard. It's gonna leave a scar." For the first time, I realized I wasn't wearing a shirt. I looked down and saw bandages covering my side, which was throbbing.

Something Theo had said earlier hit me. "23 hours?"

"Yeah."

"So it's the fourth day of the week thingy."

"Yeah."

"Can I go outside?" I asked. I needed to clear my head for a minute.

"As long as you don't run. And don't mess with the bandages _or_ try to put a shirt on."

"Fine." I went outside. I sat down for a minute before getting up and walking around a little. I heard footsteps, and turned just in time to get hit hard by something.

"LIEF! You're alright!"

"Erin?" I asked, disbelieving. Erin was hugging me, obviously quite excited to see that I was okay. "Erin, what _are _you doing?"

Erin pulled away, blushing a little. "You're okay?" she asked.

"Yeah. You?"

"I'm fine. I didn't take a dagger in the side." Erin stepped back and looked at me. "You're not wearing a shirt." She accused.

"Hey, Theo said I couldn't." I defended.

"Now, sit down. You've got a lot of explaining to do." Erin said.

"Okay. I'll explain." I sat down and started to talk.

**A/N- There you go! Like it? Hate it? Review? Please?**

**-smartone101**


	8. Day 4: Past

**A/N- Sorry for not updating. Still, there was a combination of The Son of Neptune and homework. Therefore, I couldn't update. Still, I'm updating now. And, btw, The Son of Neptune was AWESOME! If you haven't read it, do so immediately. (Octavian kills teddy bears! I'm still cracking up over that.)**

**Disclaimer- I don't own PJO. Trust me. If I did, The Son of Neptune would have been out earlier, and The Mark of Athena would be out earlier then next fall. **

Chapter 8: Day Four- Past

_Erin's POV_

Lief had warned me that this could take a while, so I leaned back against one of the boulders that seemed to be everywhere around Zeus' Fist. Lief had leaned back and closed his eyes. His head was tilted back, and I could see his scar. For some reason, I couldn't take my eyes away from it. It took me a moment to realize Lief was speaking.

"I might as well start from the beginning. I was born in Chicago. I lived with my mother and two little sisters in an apartment there. Sound typical?" Lief started. I nodded. He continued, "My mom had remarried when I was two. My step dad was okay. I mean, we weren't close, but he wasn't mean to me or anything. My sisters…well, one of them was four years younger then me, and the other-" His voice broke for a second, "She was my twin."

"You had a twin?" I asked. Lief didn't seem like the type who'd have a twin, but I guess you never know.

"Yeah. Shannon. My little sister was Abby. We were happy, I guess. Mom was a teacher and a part-time musician. My step dad owned a coffee shop. Shannon and I were really close. We did _everything_ together. Abby liked to be on her own. She was always off in her own little world." Lief smiled sadly at the memory.

"What was Shannon like?" I asked.

"Well…how do I describe her? Shannon was…she was kind of violent, she wouldn't hesitate to beat somebody up. Sometimes I think she was the only reason I made it through most of middle school. I was kind of the odd one out, the strange one. I've never really liked sports, but I was on the cross-country team. Shannon took karate. Man, but she was good at it. You would have liked her, I think. Don't think she was all violence. She had a mischievous side. She was always spying on people and playing pranks. Oh-" he broke off again, "This is impossible. How do I describe a person? You can't get their full essence into words."

"But you can into pictures," I said, remembering Lief's sketch. "Why wasn't your stepfather in that picture?" I asked.

"To me, he wasn't really part of the family. He seemed like an outsider, at least to me. Let's see, what else can I tell you about my family? Abby was really smart. She was always reading stuff. My mom…she was the best mom in the world, I think. She was always baking stuff for us. I can still taste her Nantucket pie…" Lief trailed off again.

"Go on," I prodded. I didn't want to rush Lief, but I still wanted to know what had happened.

"Well, I was different. You know me as sarcastic, closed off. Well, I wasn't really like that. I used to talk a lot. I was always really cheerful. I learned to play the guitar and the piano in second grade. I'm not sure which one I liked more."

"You played the guitar and piano?" I asked. I'd never seen Lief do _anything_ even remotely musical except singing when Will forced him to.

"Still do, as a matter of fact. I just do when nobody else is around to hear."

"What else?" I asked.

"Well, I learned how to shoot a bow when I was 9. Shannon insisted I learned how to do something to defend myself." Lief hung his head and a tear leaked out. "It didn't help at all," he murmured. He lifted his head again and went on. "Anyways, we were happy. There never was much money, but we got by. That all changed in eighth grade. I was thirteen then, my birthday being in January. Another thing about living in Chicago. You learn to like the wind. I loved it. I loved the rain, too. Do you know how it is?"

"Kind of." Frankly, I'd never really liked the wind and hated the rain, but Lief was on a roll. "Keep going."

"So I was in eighth grade, and there was this new girl in my class. See, I used to go to a pretty small school. It was kind of for kids who weren't normal. Anyways, this girl, she was pretty. Like, drop-dead pretty. I was…attracted to her. I guess all the guys were. It was strange. She was…different. Something about her was different. In October, my friend Josh disappeared. Josh was the class clown and probably one of my best friends. A couple weeks later, he turned up dead. The strangest thing was, there were puncture marks in his throat. I was pretty creeped out. I mean, it was my best friends that had turned up dead.

"At the end of October, Halloween night, to be exact, Suzie -that was the girl- followed me home. I'm not sure how she did it without me noticing. I had been home for about half an hour before I noticed anything. I even remember what I was reading. I was rereading _To Kill a Mockingbird._ Shannon had given it to me for our birthday." Lief reached down inside his boot and pulled out the box I'd seen earlier.

"What's in there?" I asked.

"Never mind," Lief said brusquely. "I had been reading when I heard a scream. It was Abby's scream. I remember that Mom had soundproofed the apartment so nobody outside could hear what went on. I had liked that at first, but now I regret it. I ran into the living room. My mom and Shannon were tied to chairs. Abby was on the floor. There was a pool of blood streaming from her throat." Lief broke off again. There were more tears now. I looked at him more closely. His eyes were full of pain.

"You don't have to keep going if you don't want to," I said, putting a hand on his knee.

"No," Lief said roughly, brushing my hand away. "I've started, so I might as well finish. Mom was crying and begging for Abby's life instead of her own. She stopped once she realized Abby was dead. I remember…just before Abby died, she looked at me. That look- I can never forget it. It was full of so much pain and- and betrayal. I had betrayed them. That was when I charged into the living room. I had an arrow with me. I had been going to stab Suzie with it, but she _looked_ at me. You have no idea what it was like. I- I couldn't move. I just had to stand there and watch. There wasn't anything I could do.

"Next she moved on to Mom. Shannon hadn't said anything until then, but as soon as Suzie attacked Mom, Shannon started up this steady stream of curses. Shannon had this powerful voice. It always sounded so dangerous. Right then, she was cursing Suzie with all her strength. After Mom slumped over dead, Shannon looked at me. I still couldn't move. 'Lief, you idiot, DO SOMETHING!' Shannon yelled. I tried. I really did-" Lief broke off again.

"Really, you can stop now," I said. "You don't have to keep going."

"What you don't realize is that this isn't even over yet," Lief said. "Suzie had moved on to Shannon. She had released her so that there could be a little bit of a fight. There wasn't one. Shannon didn't even have a chance. She died there, laying on the floor, looking at me. Just looking. But that was all I needed. That look had everything she needed to say. Then Suzie turned to me. All she had time for was a slash down my face before I turned and ran. That slash became my scar. I ran to my room, grabbed the first thing I saw- my ipod- and jumped out the window. We were on the second floor." Lief winced, "That hurt. But I ran, just ran, for as long as I could. I collapsed on the street after a while. I slept out there for a couple nights before I found my aunt. How do you describe Aunt Jessie? She was an artist. She told me to sketch the pain away. That's the sketch you saw. Still, I hadn't been there a week when Aunt Jessie was killed.

"I ran again. To another aunt. It happened again, though. That's when I just ran. I had already caused five people to die, and I didn't want to hurt anybody else. I didn't want to take the chance- the chance that I'd care for them. If I cared for them, loved them, they would die. That's what always happened. That's my story. I'm cursed, Erin. Cursed to never be able to have rest. I'm a traitor. And I don't blame you if you hate me now." Lief stopped. He rested his head on his knees and sobbed, big sobs that racked his body. I let him stay there for a minute before ever so gently putting my arm around him. He shrugged it off and stood up. "So," he said.

"What?"

"Now you know. You know the truth. You know I'm a coward. A traitor. I let my sisters die. Now, I want an honest answer. Do you hate me now? Because it's okay if you do. I hate myself too." I stood up.

"Lief, I don't hate you. You know that."

"Stop, Erin. Don't start. I can't- I can't let myself start to care for you. I can't let you care for me. Bad things happen. People get killed. It's better for both of us if you hate me."

I shook my head. "No, I can't do that. I can't just turn on you like that."

"Then it's your risk. But Erin?"

"What?" I asked.

"I'm begging you, please don't. Don't care about me. It's best if you just forget I ever existed. Goodbye." Leif pulled me into a hug, tucked his box back in his boot, and took off running through the woods. I stood there and watched him leave. It took me a moment to realize what happened. It occurred to me that Lief had just said goodbye. Which meant that he was leaving.

"No!" I yelled. "You can't leave!" I don't know if he heard me. I don't think he did. He kept running, his back getting smaller and smaller. I knew there was no hope of me ever catching him. I was about to turn around when I saw something on the rock. A note. A couple scribbled words looked up at me. "_Sketchbook, page three,_" I read. "That doesn't make any sense."

Suddenly it hit me like a ton of bricks. Lief's sketchbook. I ran into the cave and grabbed it off the table. Theo gave me a funny look as I ran back out. I flipped to the third page. There wasn't a sketch there. Instead, there was a letter. A letter from Lief.

_Dear Erin,_

_If you are reading this, then you know the truth. The truth about my past. About who I really am. About my curse. If you are reading this, know that I am not dead. At least, not yet. I am on the move again. If I'm on the move, I can't become attached to anyone. I hope you understand why I left. Please don't try to contact me. It's for your own good. You can keep the sketchpad. Don't worry about me and try to forget I was ever here. _

_-Lief_

_P.S. You are the only Hermes kid I've ever found who I liked at all. Thank you._

I read the letter again, trying to absorb what I'd just seen. Lief couldn't be _gone,_ could he? "Lief, you're such an idiot." I mumbled under my breath. "Running away with a wound like that and expecting me not to do anything. Just you wait until I find you." I stuffed the letter in my pocket and poked my head back into the cave. "Hey, Theo," I said. "Got any drachmas?"

**A/N- And there you go. Sorry it's so short. Review?**

**-smartone101**


	9. Day 4: Package

**A/N- So. Not much to say. Chapter 9. Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer- I could not have come up with a son of Apollo that slaughters Percy's pillow pet. Really, I couldn't. Therefore, I am not Rick Riordan. **

Chapter 9: Package

_Erin's POV_

The goal? Get Lief back to camp. The plan? Still working on it. The music helping me think? Paramore. What can I say? Theo has good music choices. Anyways, I was trying to figure out how to contact Lief. I knew I'd need drachmas, since I couldn't use mortal mail. Why? I had no idea where he was going this time. Therefore, the only was to contact him was by Hermes Express or Iris Messaging. See, I am smarter then you think, people who think that I'm just a dumb prankster. Hermes kids ROCK!

Anyways, I was trying to figure out what to say. I couldn't concentrate, and eventually decided just to IM him and see what happened. Theo had a spray bottle -apparently the only way to wake Noah unless you _want_ to be stabbed in the ribs. I think Noah's paranoid- so it was fairly easy to make a rainbow. I threw the drachma in, but since I didn't know where Lief was, I just said his name. Apparently Iris was in a good mood, because she showed me Lief. The only problem? He was running away from the IM. "LIEF!" I yelled at his back.

He turned around. "Erin." His face was hard and cold again, but there were traces of tears. Lief had been crying again. His surroundings were woods, which wasn't exactly unusual, considering that we _were_ in the woods. "What do you want?" Lief asked.

"Lief, listen to me. You need to come back." I said. Not very logical, but it was the best I could think of. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Theo fiddling with a phone, and music started playing.

"Why should I?" he asked.

"You need to," I begged, "Think about how everybody will feel."

Lief's face turned cold. Well, colder. "Erin, listen to the song playing behind you, would ya? That about sums up most people's feelings for me. I'm sorry, but if I stay, people will get killed. I can't risk caring for someone. You can't risk caring for me. I -I don't want you to get hurt. It's better for both of us if you forget about me." He swiped his hand through the Iris Message and it dissipated.

Remembering Lief's comment, I listened to the song playing behind me. I recognized it from _way_ back when I was little. _Not One of Us._ You know, the scene from _The Lion King 2_ when Kovu gets exiled? That music. "Great music choice, Theo. You're really an idiot, you know that?" I said.

"Hey, it's not my music. That's my phone ringing!" he said, picking up the said phone.

"That's your ringtone?" I asked, incredulous.

"Well, for Noah. Long story," he added, seeing my confused expression. "Hey Noah…yeah, she's here…Lief? He ran off…You better get over here…gotta go. See ya." He hung up.

"Wouldn't that attract monsters?" I asked.

"Nope. Latest Hephaestus cabin technology."

"Awesome!" I yelled. "I want one!"

"Well, you can't take mine," Theo said.

A couple minutes later, I felt a knife on my throat. To say I jumped is an understatement. I looked over at Theo. He was cracking up. "Noah, get your knife off my neck," I growled.

"Noah? I'm not Noah. I'm Theo," The person said.

"Theo? But Theo's right there." I pointed to the person sitting on the boulder that I had assumed was Theo.

"Ah, yes. But one of the advantages of having an identical twin is that you can switch places when the unsuspecting child of Hermes is too deep in thought to notice." Theo explained, taking away the knife.

I stood up. "You two are _so _dead when we get back to camp." Of course, this just made them laugh even more.

"Dude!" Noah started. "Remember when-"

"-they tried to-"

"-prank us, and we-"

"-caught them?"

"And I-"

"-threatened them-"

"-with my knife? Yeah. That was-"

"AWESOME!" they finished together.

"Do you do that just to annoy me?" I asked.

"Um, no," Theo said. "We also do it to annoy Lief."

"And Autumn."

"And Will."

"And Chiron."

"And Dionysus."

"And Matt."

And-"

"I GET IT!" I yelled. What? They were getting on my nerves.

"Sorry," one of them said.

"Or not," the other muttered.

"I heard that!"

"So?" They chorused.

"What are we going to do about Lief?" I asked.

"Oh, that's easy," Noah said. Or at least, I think it was Noah.

"What?" I asked.

"Let him be," One said.

"Or go after him." The other said.

"Or IM him again."

"Or -"

"Would you guys stop doing that?" I grumbled.

"Nope!" Three guesses as to what duo said that. Seconds later, Travis and Connor came crashing through the brush and into the clearing.

"Hey," Connor said. "What's with all the gloomy faces?"

"Lief's gone. Again." I said. The Stolls didn't even frown.

"So?" Travis asked.

"So we're trying to figure out how to get him back," I snapped.

"Aw, does wittle Ewin have a cwush?" Connor smirked. I could feel my face heating up.

"Connor, sometimes I swear you are such an idiot I wonder how you ever made it through first grade." I growled.

"Oh, that? That was easy!" Connor said. "We just-"

"-bribed the teacher!" Travis finished for him.

"I also wonder why I ever bother with you two," I said.

"Aw, Erin, don't be like that," Travis said. "We were only having a little fun. Besides, who else is gonna cheer you up when your boyfrie- er, friend, runs off?"

"He's NOT my boyfriend, you imbecile!" I snapped.

"Anyways, what are we gonna do?" Theo asked.

"I vote we send Lief an IM," Connor said.

"Nope," I contradicted. "We already tried that. We need something he can't just ignore."

" We could go after him," Travis said.

"That won't work," I groaned. "Have you ever seen him run?"

"No," Connor said, "but we_ have_ inherited Dad's speed. Travis and I'll go after him, 'kay? You and the gloomy twins can figure something else out in case we don't catch up."

"If you want to," I conceded. "Just make sure you have-"

"A weapon? Check. Food? Check. Water? Check. Ambrosia? Check." Travis cut me off. "What can we say? College is a dangerous place."

I smiled. "Get going, then. You're wasting time." The Stolls nodded and sprinted off. I turned back to Theo and Noah. "Got any ideas?" I asked.

"The gloomy twins?" Theo snickered.

"They are _so _in for it next time we see them," Noah smirked.

"Hello? Ideas?" I said, irritated.

"Oh, right. How 'bout you send him something through Hermes Express? He can't really ignore _that_."

I thought it over. "Sure. Got a box?"

Theo ran inside for a moment and came out with a small box. "First rule of packing. Be prepared for _anything_."

"Great. Now what do we send him?"

_Lief's POV_

I was on the run again. Erin knew who I was, and for some reason she wouldn't give up on me like everybody else. Why couldn't she understand that if she insisted on liking me, she'd get hurt? It's not that I liked her back or anything, I just didn't want anybody to get hurt. I didn't want another death on my hands. I was concentrating so hard on this problem that I didn't notice the box until I tripped over it and fell flat on my face. I picked it up. It was a plain cardboard box, but it was addressed to me. _Hermes Express._

I opened the box, knowing it was from Erin. Inside it was a note, a knife, a shirt, and…carrots? Why would Erin be sending me carrots? I decided to take a closer look at that note.

_Dear Lief,_

_You are an idiot. You had better get back here before I find you and rip your hair out by the roots dragging you back. How could you just leave like that? I'm worried about you. Plus, the Stolls won't stop saying that you're my boyfriend. I'd kill them, but then there'd be nobody to give me prank ideas. Anyways, you'd better get back here. Or else. _

_-Erin_

_P.S. In case you're still wondering: Eat the carrots. They aren't poisoned. Put on the shirt. And you needed a weapon. Try not to stab yourself with the knife. Now…GET BACK HERE!_

I stared at it for a while and then read it a couple more times. Ouch. I didn't know it was possible to be yelled at in a letter. As much as I didn't want my hair to get ripped out, there was no way I could go back. I took the knife, slipped the shirt on despite what Theo had told me, and stuffed a couple carrots into my pockets.

I pushed the box under some bushes and leaned back against a tree. I needed a little rest before I could start up again. Normally I would have just kept running, but my side still hurt from the attack and I was bone tired.

About ten minutes later, I pushed myself to my feet. I took a deep breath and was about to start off again. Key word: _about._ Only problem? Somebody- actually, make that two somebodies- grabbed me and pulled me back. I swear, I about jumped out of my skin. Whoever these people were, they were a bit taller then me and definitely stronger. I looked up and saw two curly mops of brown hair and identical mischievous grins. Shoot. The Stolls.

"And just _where_ do you think you are going?" One of them asked.

"Um…nowhere?" That had seemed to be a safe answer, but I was quickly proven wrong.

"_Au contraire, _my dear Lief. You are coming with us," the other smirked.

"Oh, great. I'm being kidnapped by juvenile delinquents," I muttered under my breath. I apparently wasn't soft enough to escape detection, though, because one of my arms was abruptly twisted, making me wince.

"First of all, we're not juvenile. We're fully mature adults," one of them started.

A thought occurred to me. "Oh no. The Stolls voting," I breathed. "The world must really be messed up if they're allowed to vote."

Somebody pinched me. "The world got better because we voted."

"And we aren't delinquents, either. We've never been _proven_ guilty."

"But that doesn't mean you haven't done anything," I accused.

"It's only wrong if you get caught," the taller one -Travis, I think- quipped. Each of them grabbed one of my arms. "Come on, or else we'll drag you the whole way back."

"Or you could just kill me," I suggested cheerfully. At the moment, dying didn't seem too bad compared with having to put up with the Stoll brothers. You say I'm being melodramatic? I say you've never had to put up with the Stolls.

"Don't I wish?" Connor asked. "But I can't. Erin would kill us, and _that_, my friend, is-"

"_Not. Cool."_ The two chorused. I took advantage of their momentary distraction to kick one of them in the shin as hard as I could. The one I had kicked let go of my arm, and I took the chance to yank it out of his grasp. Spinning quickly, my fist caught the other one in the jaw, knocking him backward a little and loosening his grip on my other arm. I jerked it free and took off like Matt was charging me with a pitchfork. Trust me, it's happened. I could hear the Stolls pounding after me, but I knew I had the advantage of being smaller, more fit, and a head start. They weren't going to catch me again anytime soon.

**A/N- Well, somebody doesn't want to go back. What'd you all think? Review?**

**-smartone101**


	10. Day 5: Clue

**A/N- Hey y'all! Smartone101 back with another chapter and *drum roll* a message from Lief! Take it away, Lief.**

**Lief: 'Sup, people? Anyways, I know y'all don't like that I'm on the run, and some of you *glares at crowd* have been calling me stupid or an idiot. Listen, peeps. I'm not an idiot. I have my reasons for doing what I do. But hey, I appreciate your concern. *glances over his shoulder* Stoll alert! That's my cue! *runs off***

**Me: Okay people. That was Lief. And I agree with you. He's acting like an idiot. Anyways…here's your chapter! Enjoy!**

Chapter 10: Day 5: Clue

_Erin's POV_

Stupid, stupid Lief. The Stolls had called me last night and told me that they had caught Lief, but that he had escaped. Why couldn't he realize that he needed to come back? What an idiot. I paced up and down the cave, muttering to myself. I probably would have done that all day if I hadn't fallen flat on my face. I lay there on the ground for a few seconds, getting my breath back.

Finally getting to my feet, I looked down to see what I had tripped over. Lief's sketchbook. A thought suddenly came to me. _If there's any clue as to where Lief's gone, it's in there._ I started flipping through the pages at breakneck speed. I slowed down, though, when I started seeing portraits. Some were done in pencil, some in ink. All of them were extraordinarily done. If I didn't know that this was a sketchbook, I could have sworn that they were photographs. As I flipped, though, I noticed something strange. Quite a few of these portraits were of me.

Casting aside this observation, I continued looking. Something caught my eye, but I flipped past it before I could take a good look at it. Turning back a couple pages, I finally settled on a drawing. At first, it looked abstract, like random squiggles. Taking a closer look, however, I realized that it was a road map. Camp Half-Blood was marked in red. Scanning the page for a clue, any clue, I spotted a green X in the upper right-hand corner. It appeared to be a small park in a little town called Kilton. This _had_ to be a clue.

Theo and Noah were still snoring away when I slipped the phone out of Theo's pocket. One of the perks of being a Hermes kid is that you get to be super sneaky and remarkably good at stealing stuff. Plus, you're really good at Ninja -Of course, that could also be just me. Don't look at me like that! The game's legit! Anyways, that's beside the point. I went outside to call. The sun had just risen, probably a couple minutes ago. I opened Theo's phone and started to dial Connor's -stolen- cell phone, but stopped when a screen popped up demanding that I enter the "password". The password? Really? This called for some super Erin-type sneakiness. Slipping the phone into my pocket, I stepped back into the cave. I tapped Theo on the shoulder ever so gently. "Theo," I hissed.

"What?" he murmured sleepily.

"What's your phone's password?"

"Theo is awesome, no caps or spaces." Theo rolled over before bolting upright. "What did you just say?"

"Um, nothing. I've got to go now. Bye!" I said in a rush before bolting down the passage and outside, where I commenced to enter the password and dial Connor's cell phone number.

After a couple rings, somebody picked up the phone. "You have reached the amazing Connor Stoll. Now, whadda ya want?" Connor grumbled sleepily.

"Okay Connor, this is Erin. Now listen up and listen close. Lief is probably heading for Kilton. It's northeast of where I am. If you can get there before he can, you'll have a better chance of stopping him. Now, get your lazy rears up and _get going_!" I hung up, still not entirely sure how much Connor had heard. Now, for phase two. I ran back inside, slipped Theo's phone back into his pocket, and shook him awake. I started to do the same to Noah, but Theo stopped me.

"Don't," he hissed. "Noah sleeps with a knife."

"He's paranoid," I observed.

"Nope. He's always been like that," Theo defended.

"Then he's always been paranoid," I concluded.

"Who's paranoid?" a sleepy voice asked. _Noah_. _I wonder…_

"Oh, nobody. Just -AH! You're his evil twin! You're a clone! You're one of _them_!" I yelled, pretending to panic. Hey, they were looking _way_ too serious. It worked. Theo fell out of his chair laughing. I'm not sure why. It wasn't _that_ funny. It wasn't even as funny as what one of my half-sisters had said when she saw _The Two Towers._

_We sat on my bed, watching _The Two Towers_ play out on the screen before us. Frodo and Sam were hiding in Osgiliath during the battle. A Nazgul shrieked, and Lindsey grabbed my arm. "It's not gonna hurt Sam, is it?" She asked, her face concerned. She had good taste in her favorite characters, I had to admit. Sure, maybe she liked Sam and Faramir, while I thought Merry and Pippin were the coolest, but hey- we both hated Frodo, thought Aragorn was weird, and knew Legolas was _way_ too perfect. _

"_Lindsey, you've seen this movie about fifty times," I said. "Now quite down." If there's one thing I can't stand, it's when people talk during movies._

_On screen, Frodo started to walk out onto the bridge to confront the Nazgul. 'What are you doing? Where are you going?' Sam asked him._

_Lindsey immediately replied, in a perfect imitation of Frodo, "I have to go to the bathroom." We spent the rest of the movie rolling on the floor laughing until I thought I would suffocate. _

"So, oh high and mighty genius, what's the plan?" Noah asked.

"Wha- huh?" I intelligently replied.

"See, I told you she wasn't listening," Theo smirked.

"Sorry. I was just remembering this one time when my sister and I were watching-"

"Don't even start," Noah cut me off. "We probably wouldn't think it was funny, anyways."

"True."

"So, what Noah was trying to ask you is what the plan is. Or if there is, in fact, a plan at all," Theo said.

"Oh, there's a plan. Get your bags, boys. We're heading back to camp."

_Half an hour later…_

"So, we're back at camp," Theo said.

"Way to state the obvious," Noah scowled.

"Thanks." Theo. Always so oblivious.

"It wasn't a compliment," Noah snapped.

"I knew that! I've known you for…how long again?" Theo said.

"Since we were born, you idiot."

"Really? I don't' remember that…'course I've had amnesia once…or twice…I can't really remember." Theo deadpanned. Noah rolled his eyes in frustration and smacked Theo upside the head. Theo winced and stepped away, looking offended. "What was that for?"

"That was for you acting like an imbecile. Now stop all…that." Noah made a vague gesture in Theo's direction.

"You just gestured to all of me," Theo said.

"And would you quit it with the _How to Train your Dragon_ references? They're driving me up the wall!"

"In that case, you must have gone across the ceiling once or twice," Theo replied. Noah rolled his eyes again and sighed.

"Get him to stop," Noah said. I assumed he was talking to me, since the only other 'he' was Theo.

Getting a brilliant idea, I grabbed both boys by their shirt collars and cracked their heads together. Okay, so I probably did it a little harder then necessary. "That," I smirked, "was for wasting time." I released them, then smacked them both at once. "And that was for everything else."

Noah's face started to turn a strange shade of purple and a growl rose from deep in his throat. I took that as my cue to run for the relative safety of the empty Hermes cabin.

_Lief's POV_

I opened my eyes and immediately realized that I couldn't move my head. Let me back up a minute. After making sure there was a considerable distance between the Stolls and I, I had climbed up a pine tree and fallen asleep leaning back against the trunk. Now -now being morning, probably about 10:00- I realized what a mistake I had made. My hair was stuck to the tree trunk. With sap. That was starting to dry. I cursed under my breath as I slowly started to pick my hair off the tree.

Roughly half an hour later, I turned around to see how much of my hair I had left on the tree. To my surprise, I couldn't see any. That was when I reached up to scratch the back of my head. Let's just say that I think at least a third of the tree sap had gotten stuck in my hair. About then was when I slipped and fell off the branch I had been sitting on, thereby coating me with pine needles and a bit more sap before I could grab a branch. Of course, then the dryad just _had_ to poke her head out at me, which startled me so much I fell the rest of the way and landed directly on a rock, bruising my tailbone. _Ouch._

After cursing under my breath for the better part of a minute, I hauled myself to my feet. Seeing light ahead, I walked for a couple minutes before finding myself on the slope of a hill, clear of woods, with a dirt road at the bottom. I looked around for a while before accepting that I was lost. Completely and totally lost. Wait- was that the creek? I dashed over to investigate, and in doing so, tripped and fell flat on my face. Spitting dirt and grass out of my mouth, I walked the rest of the way, only to discover that it was _not_ the creek, but a very small stream flowing into the woods. I figured it must be a tributary or something. I was really thirsty, so I lay down and slurped up the water without giving much thought to it. The water was ice cold, but I didn't attach any importance to that, either.

A couple minutes later, I was doubled over by the bank of the stream clutching my stomach and groaning in pain. There were the cramps that come with drinking too much cold water too fast, but there was something else, too. I just had time to lean over the stream and push my hair away before I was puking into the stream. Let's just say that the water tasted _way_ worse coming up then it had going down. Afterwards, trying to wipe the taste out of my mouth with my sleeve, I realized that I would need to ask for directions if I ever wanted to get to Kilton. That would not be fun, as I generally was not good at asking for things and didn't exactly look trustworthy at the moment. I pictured myself and groaned. My hair was probably matted down from the pine sap, there was a scrape over my right eye, my clothes were torn up, and to top it off, I probably looked sick.

About then was when the truck came barreling down the dirt road. It screeched to a halt and I staggered up toward it. A man leaned out the window. "You lost?" he asked.

"Yes sir." If in doubt, be as polite as possible.

"Where you headed to?" the man asked.

"Kilton. Do you know which way it is?"

"Ne'er heard of it." The man scratched his head and I swear I saw a flea jump out.

"Do you know where the nearest town is?" I asked in desperation.

"Yeah. Up t'road a mile er so."

"Thank you. Thank you very much!" I turned and started a slow jog up the road. The man rolled up his window and drove off in the other direction. As soon as he was out of sight, I fell to my knees and was violently sick for the second time that day. Struggling back to my feet, I continued down the road.

A mile and ten minutes later, I saw a town. It was a small thing, really, but there were people. There seemed to only be a couple stores, so I went into the first one I saw. The clerk looked over his glasses at me. "Good morning. How may I help you?"

"Good morning sir. I was wondering…is there a place where I can wash up?"

"Not in the store. You could try the inn, but only if you have money. If not, then I suggest you go back to your family." I looked at the clerk, confused. "You are a runaway, are you not?"

"No sir, I am not. I was out running yesterday, and I took a wrong turn and got lost." Despite what you may think, I can lie. I'm just not the best at it. "I was supposed to be back home last night before sunset. Mom's gonna kill me."

The clerk bought it. Sucker. "Where're you from, then?"

"Kilton."

"Kilton? That's quite a ways for you to have run. Kilton's a good ten miles north of here." There! The clerk had just given me exactly the information I needed.

"Thank you, sir. I'd best be going." I slipped out of the store and had just started up the road again when I tripped and hit my head on a rock. Getting back up, I realized my forehead was bleeding. As the blood dried, the flies and mosquitoes swarmed me. Just what I needed. Working my way up the road in what I hoped was the right direction, I wasn't too surprised when a car slowed to a halt beside me. All my instincts were screaming at me to run, but I didn't listen and instead went up to the car. Big mistake. The window rolled down, and I found myself looking at two very familiar faces. Travis and Connor Stoll. My day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?

**A/N- And there you go! Lief's having a bad day…By the way, who else caught the **_**How to Train your Dragon **_**references? Oh, and the incident with **_**The Two Towers**_** actually happened to me. Thanks sis, for providing Frodo's inspiring (not!) line.**

**-smartone101**


	11. Day 5, Part 2, to Day 6, Part 1: Run

**A/N- Yo! Next chapter here! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer- Now, if it were up to me, I'd do away with these things, but the guidelines say to put them in **_**every blasted chapter**_**. So I don't own PJO, blah blah blah. Can I go now?**

Chapter 11: Day 5-Day 6: Run

_Lief_

The first thing to register was shock. I mean, I had been really far ahead of the Stolls, and they hadn't known where I was going, and then- _poof!_ There they are, sitting in a car, looking very, very smug and totally confident. So, of course, I did what I did best. I ran. To be more exact, I ran up into the woods lining the road and disappeared into the brush. Once in the woods and beyond the view from the road, I sat down, back against a tree. Closing my eyes and staying absolutely still, I listened for any trace of the Stolls. I was not disappointed, and heard them crashing through the brush. "Where'd he go?" One of them asked.

"I dunno. I swear, sometimes he disappears so fast you'd think he was a deer or something. It's like there he is, and then -_poof!_- he's gone. How does he do it?" the other replied. I stifled a grin. A deer, eh? Perhaps I could give them something to think about. A little reminder not to underestimate me. With this thought in mind, I crept forward from my hiding place, slowly circling around so that I was between the Stolls and their car. While they were busy searching the woods, I could wreak a little havoc.

Grabbing the key out of the ignition -very stupid of them to leave it there, someone could take it-, I dove into the back seat of their car, hiding it between a crack in the cushions. Perfect. For now, at least. As I was climbing out, I vaguely saw the Stolls emerging from the woods. One of them must have spotted me, because he shouted something and they sped up. Naturally, I dove back into the underbrush. You know, all that brush can be either really annoying or really useful. Most of the time it was annoying, but hey -this time, it suited my purposes perfectly.

The Stolls crashed around for a couple more minutes before giving up and going back to their car. I heard them rummaging around and cursing. Finally, one of them straightened up and said, "Lief, you-" here he called me just about every unprintable name I'd heard, and some I hadn't, "-you better not have taken those keys or I'll…" he trailed off, unable to find a sufficient threat.

I tried, I really did. I just couldn't resist the opportunity to insert a comment. The kind you always regret later. "Oh, yes, I'm absolutely terrified. In fact, I'm quaking in my boots. That dramatic pause- unbelievable. I'm totally scared of you now." The plus side is that I pulled it off with a straight face and heaped it with sarcasm. The minus side is that the Stolls now had a fix on my location. Shoot. I'd have to make a break for it. Not that I wasn't used to doing just that.

So, of course, I ran again. What did you expect me to do, stand there and take on the Stolls? You did? Really? Let's take a look at the odds, here. The Stolls are both roughly 6 feet, 2 inches, and they definitely outweigh me. Plus, there's two of them. They're older, stronger, and have more experience. On the other hand, I'm pretty small, about 5'4. I'm lighter and not as experienced. On the plus side, though, I'm faster and more agile. The only thing that is good for at the moment is running, which I was in the middle of doing before I had to explain the odds. _Anyways_, let's get back to the original storyline here, 'kay? Here I was, crashing through the underbrush and really wishing it weren't there. I mean, it can be useful, but it can also slow you down like nothing else will. I made it far enough that I couldn't see the road, then turned and ran parallel to the road. Or at least I hoped it was parallel to the road. I didn't hear any signs of pursuit, and took that to mean that the Stolls were still searching for their keys.

About an hour later, I stopped for a long-ish break. It was about noon by then, or at least I thought it was. It was kind of hard to tell, since I didn't have a watch. I dug a carrot out of the stash Erin had so kindly sent me, and chewed on it while I thought. I mainly thought of where I was going, although I have to admit, I wondered a little bit about people's reactions to finding out I was gone. Erin would be angry with me, and would definitely try to get me to come back. I couldn't help but hope that she would be a little saddened that I was gone. If she wasn't, nobody else really would be. I mean, Noah and Theo are good friends and all, but they're twins. They have each other. _Like you and I did_, I heard Shannon say in my head. Yes, in my head. It's not like I hear her actual voice or anything, it's just that sometimes I feel like she's still here with me, adding her little smart-alecky comments.

Like I said, Noah and Theo had each other, they wouldn't feel that bad that I was missing. Who else was there? Matt? He'd be fine, it's not like we really knew each other. Will? He'd _act_ worried, that's for sure. He was always one for putting up an act. I didn't really know what Will would be feeling. Autumn? Another of Erin's friends. She'd be fine. Really, I didn't have many friends. I was always more of a loner. Personally, I'd always said that I could count my friends on one hand, but I ran out of things to count my enemies on. I liked it that way. Me against the world, ya know?

I must have dozed off thinking, because when I opened my eyes, the sun was shining in them, and I was cold and slightly damp. Looking around, I realized that the grass was wet too, and concluded that dew must have fallen while I was sleeping. Calculating my position, I reasoned that I must be facing east, which would explain the sun in my eyes. I also concluded that I had slept through the afternoon and night, and that this was morning again. Staggering to my feet, I stretched and groaned. Really, you'd be amazed at how stiff you'll get sleeping on the ground. I munched a carrot and set off again. With luck, I could reach Kilton before lunch.

I held true to my predictions and reached Kilton near noon. It was your typical small town, a couple stores, a park on a small lake, nothing much. That was why I liked it there; there was nothing that could attract attention. I immediately headed to the park. Pitching my stuff into the nearest tree, I ran for the lake and jumped in. It was pretty small, but dropped off substantially. After swimming around for a while, I started washing my hair out. No, Erin, I'm not a girly-girl, I just believe in taking care of my hair. Climbing out of the lake, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to bring a spare set of clothes. Well, that presented a couple problems. I decided to go with the simplest solution, which was taking off my shirt, but leaving everything else on to dry out its own. My side was aching where I had been stabbed a couple days ago. Looking down, I noted that it was healing up pretty quickly. It's a perk of being an Apollo kid. Your wounds tend to heal faster. Was that just a couple days ago that I was attacked? It seemed like it had been a long time ago.

I was sitting on the lakeshore, just relaxing, when the back of my neck seemed to tingle with a bit of premonition. I started to turn around, but was stopped by something cold pressing into my back. "Don't move," a voice hissed. I stopped cold. I knew that voice. It was so familiar, but I just couldn't place it. I decided to venture a guess.

"Shannon? Is that you?" I could hear the disbelief in my voice. Shannon had died two years ago. Hadn't she?

"Lief?"

"Yeah, it's Lief. Who are you?" I tried to turn my head around, but was startled by something plopping in the sand beside me. I glanced over and saw something I thought I would never see again. My twin sister Shannon. "Shannon!"

"No, you idiot, it's Sherlock Holmes," my sister said, hugging me so tightly I thought I'd suffocate then and there.

"But- wha- how- how are you not dead?" I stuttered.

"Dumb luck and a very smart neighbor," was all Shannon would specify, pulling back with an expression of pain on her face. "What happened to you?" I explained about Aunt Jessie, Camp Half-Blood, everything. Shannon's face lit up when I mentioned our father. "So it's really Apollo?" she asked, curious.

"Yeah, really. No joke."

Shannon started to say something, but it was choked out as something bright and cold pierced her throat. "Lief," she gasped out, before she collapsed sideways in the sand. The thing in her throat, a dagger, I realized, twisted and cut further, making sure she was dead.

"NO!" I yelled. How could my sister be dead again? Only this time, it was for real. There would be no coming back for Shannon. She looked very dead. Besides, there was no way someone could survive having most of their throat cut out. No way. My beautiful, laughing sister was dead. Again. I turned to face her attacker, a roar of fury in my throat. It died as soon as it started, because there, facing me, was Suzie. "You're dead," I said. "I killed you."

"Oh, Lief," she purred, "I can never stay dead long." And with that, the same dagger that had killed my sister stabbed deep into my side. I fell over in the sand on top of my dead sister. Something was wet under me, and I realized that it was my own blood. Suzie stabbed me twice more, once in the ribs and once in the back. After this last stroke, she left the dagger embedded in my flesh and laughed, a cold cruel laugh. Red was flashing before my eyes. The pain was beyond anything I could describe. I knew I would be dead soon if nobody came. My vision was on the edge of blacking out, and I prayed that Suzie's cold laugh wouldn't be the last thing I ever heard on this earth. I heard a dull thunk, a heavy weight fell across me, and I lost consciousness.

_Erin_

After spending the better part of an hour running from an enraged Noah, I explained my plan in detail to them. Theo readily agreed, but Noah was a bit skeptical. "Erin, consider this. What if Lief doesn't want to come back?" he asked.

"I don't care if he doesn't _want _to come back, he _needs_ to come back," I retorted.

"I don't think this'll work, but I'll come along. Even if it's just to make sure nothing goes wrong." We spent the night in various cabins. The next morning, Friday, found our trio up and ready to go.

"So, how are we going to get one of the camp vans?" Theo asked.

I grinned. "We steal it, of course."

Fifteen minutes later, I had hotwired my second car. The first one was a couple years before, when I first learned how. I still remembered most of the basic steps. "Okay gentlemen. Hop in," I said with a mock bow.

Noah hopped into the driver's seat. "I'm driving."

"But you don't know where we're going," I protested.

"Yeah, but I have a license. Do you?" he asked.

"No. I have a permit, though."

"There aren't any adults here. Therefore, you need someone who has a license."

"Who hotwired the car? Me. Who thought of this crazy idea in the first place? Me. Who should be the one to drive? Me." I was just getting started, but Theo cut me off.

"I'm driving," he stated, pushing Noah out of the way. "Now sit down and buckle up."

As it turned out, we didn't even get to start, because Noah suddenly cried out in pain. "What is it?" I asked.

"My ankle. Something's grabbing it." I looked down at his ankle. There was a vine wrapped around it. A grape vine.

"Good morning, children," a mocking voice said.

"Good morning, Mr. D. Could you let go of my ankle now?" Noah asked. The sudden wince he gave after that gave me the feeling that that answer was no.

"And what, exactly, do you think you are doing?" Mr. D asked, looking bored.

"We're going to help Lief," I explained. "He ran away, and so we're bringing him back."

"What's one brat, more or less? Let him go. He'll either make it on his own or die a painful death, neither of which concerns me. Oh, and a month of kitchen duty for trying to sneak out of camp," Mr. D said.

"But you have to let us go!" I started before Theo covered my mouth with his hand. I bit him and he yelped.

"With all due respect, sir," Theo said calmly, "I feel that we should be given the opportunity to go after Lief. Imagine if Ellie went missing. Wouldn't you want to go look for her?" Ellie was Dionysus' 12-year-old daughter. I had to admit she could be a bit of a brat, but Theo played the point well.

"Ellie is not this boy. This boy, Lane, was morose, gloomy, and overall a negative addition to the camp. You are strictly forbidden to go after him," Mr. D said.

"It's Lief," I growled.

"Say," Theo said, changing the subject, "have you ever played Angry Birds?"

"What in the name of good wine is Angry Birds?" Mr. D asked.

Theo gave a short explanation, which included how to play. "So, that about wraps it up. As a matter of fact, I have that game on my phone. Perhaps, if I let you play, you could let us go?" He held out his phone, which Mr. D snatched up.

"You think you can bargain with me, eh? Well…just this once. But if you even think about breaking the rules again…" he trailed off threateningly. The vine released Noah's foot, and he slammed the door. Theo stepped on the gas, and we pulled out of camp, leaving Mr. D muttering something about birds and cannonballs.

Fifteen jolting minutes later, we arrived in Kilton. "Where to now?" Noah asked.

"Where would Lief go first?" I replied.

"The lake. He probably wouldn't swim, but he likes just sitting by the water," Theo suggested.

"The lake it is. Lead the way," I said. Theo parked the van, and we walked down to the lake. We were getting closer when I noticed something and gasped. There was a dark shape down by the water. Dark red. There were two smaller shapes laying in the dark red. Two human forms. I recognized the top one immediately. It was Lief, and he was laying in a pool of blood.

**A/N- Well, I feel in a dark mood right now. Review? And on a side note, does anybody else like Angry Birds?**

**-Smartone101**


	12. Day 6, Part 2: No

**A/N- Here you go! I was in a writing mood…**

**Disclaimer- Insert unique and witty disclaimer here. I'm too tired to think of one myself.**

Chapter 12: Day 6: No

_Erin_

For a couple seconds, I literally could not believe my eyes. It seemed impossible that Lief was lying in a pool of his own blood and was very possibly dead. It took me a couple seconds just to take the whole possibility in. Then, I snapped back to reality and into commander mode. "Get a move on, people! Lief could still be alive!" I yelled at Theo and Noah.

"Okay, okay, we're going already," Theo grumbled, stepping down from the van. That was when he saw Lief and stopped dead in his tracks. "Noah! Get your lazy butt out of there and follow me!"

Noah tumbled out. "Holy orc spit!" he yelled when he saw the pool of blood.

"Orc spit?" I asked.

"Yes, orc spit. It's an obscure _Lord of the Rings_ reference," Noah explained.

"Never mind that, we've got to see if Lief is still alive!" Theo exclaimed.

To say we ran is the understatement of the century. We sprinted like we were in the Olympics and only the winner survived. In other words, we were fast. Reaching Lief, we saw that he was covered in a thin film of monster dust and laying sideways over a girl's body. The girl happened to be clad in silver. A silver arrow lay nearby. "What happened?" Noah asked.

"I don't know. Maybe Lief was kissing this random Hunter, and then Artemis saw and got mad, and then she killed them?" Theo offered.

"That's impossible," I scoffed. "First off, while this girl may or may not be a Hunter, Lief definitely did not have a romantic affair with anybody."

"How do _you_ know?" Theo asked.

"Because I do!" I snapped, brushing away the monster dust and laying my ear to Lief's chest, hoping for any sign of a heartbeat or even a breath. There was nothing. Nothing at all. Until- I felt a ragged, slow breath go through him, half choked out. There was a long pause. Another breath. Another pause, longer this time. Another breath, sounding more choked off then the previous two. I lifted my head, ignoring the blood that was now on my face. "He's breathing!" I exclaimed.

Noah's face was grim. "Yeah, but he's still bleeding. Look," he pointed to the blood still flowing from three stab wounds. He pulled a dagger out of one of them. The blood was a trickle now, but judging from the blood around us, I guessed that Lief had lost a lot of blood. Perhaps too much.

"What should we do?" I was starting to panic now. "He's not going to die, is he?"

"I don't know, Erin. We've got to get him to a hospital," Theo answered for Noah.

"How would we pay for that, though? Treatments cost money, and even I haven't figured out how to rip off a hospital."

"Well, to camp then. We've just got to keep him relatively still and try to stop the bleeding," Theo explained. "Noah, help me carry him. Erin, you're driving. Get the van started." I ran ahead and turned the van on, then had a thought. I ran back and grabbed the girl's body, dragging her to the van.

"Why'd you do that?" Noah panted, trying to gently lift Lief into the back seat.

"I thought her body might be important," I said.

Noah grunted a reply. "Theo, hand me the bandages. No, the other ones. The ones to the left. Now, help me bandage him up. Press on it. We've got to stop that bleeding. Erin, what are you waiting for? Drive! Quickly! Lief's _life_ is at stake here." Well, that snapped me back to reality. I scrambled into the driver's seat and floored the gas. I didn't bother looking at the speed, but I was pretty sure that it was way over the speed limit. Fortunately enough, nobody tried to stop me. I'm not entirely sure I could have stopped.

I screeched into camp as the van sputtered and died. "Is he still alive?" I shrieked.

Noah looked down at his shoes. "Erin, I really don't know how to tell you this…"

Theo looked at Noah. Noah looked back. "You say it," Theo said.

"No, you do it."

"No way."

"Fine," Noah said. "The thing is, Erin, he's not breathing anymore, and we can't feel a pulse. Erin, he's dead. Erin? ERIN?" I had stopped listening. My brain was trying to wrap around the concept of Lief's death. _How can Lief be dead? _It didn't seem possible.

"ERIN!" Theo and Noah's combined shout startled me out of my thoughts.

"Huh?" My brain was totally blanking now, completely unable to process the messages it had received.

"Erin, snap out of it," Theo snapped. "He's- he's d-dead." With that, Theo looked at Lief and started crying. Noah looked between Lief and his twin and also started crying. I looked at the three of them, two crying twins and a dead body, and ran out of the van, tears blurring my vision. Of course, I ran smack into a tree. Rubbing my head and pondering the pain in my heart, I walked the rest of the way to the Hermes cabin. Walking in, I climbed to my bunk and flipped down the trapdoor leading to the second floor. I climbed up into my favorite place at Camp Half-Blood.

Sitting down on the floor, I realized that Matt was right. It really was too dusty up in the second floor. Even looking around, though, reminded me of Lief. I really don't know why, Lief didn't even know about the Pranking Loft, as I called it. Somehow, the place didn't seem right to me, like I shouldn't be there. I climbed back down into the empty Hermes cabin, shut the trapdoor, and walked out. I wandered aimlessly around the camp for a while, just thinking. Okay, okay, fine. I was crying, too. While I was sitting on the dock, the idea hit me like an atom bomb. I had seen Lief looking at something which he'd pulled out of his boot…my Hermes kid curiosity kicked in, and I absolutely _had_ to see what was there. I sprinted back to the van. Theo and Noah were gone, but they had draped Lief -no, not Lief, Lief's body- with a sheet.

Peeling the sheet back from Lief's feet, I yanked off one boot. Nothing there. I checked the other one and found a well-wrinkled piece of paper at the bottom. Intrigued, I sat down on the floor and unfolded it. A faint scent of pine needles, one which I had come to associate with Lief -it seemed to follow him wherever he went- rose from the paper.

_Dear Erin,_

_If you are reading this letter, then I am dead. It's a strange thought, me being dead. I wonder what it feels like…Well, I guess I know now. _I almost laughed at this part. It sounded to completely Lief-like. _Anyways, back to the topic. I'm dead. If I'm lucky, nobody's that sad. Knowing my luck, though, I'm guessing that you are probably rather sad. It feels so strange writing a letter for you to read when I'm dead…Of course, maybe I won't die yet and you'll never need to see this letter, but it's always best to be on the safe side. So, if you're reading this, I'm dead, you're probably sad, etc. Don't be. Really. Don't be sad, go on with your life, get a boyfriend, prank people, just don't you dare start dwelling on me. If I'm dead, I probably deserve it. I didn't do much good and I'm probably better off dead. That way, my curse doesn't take effect and nobody else gets killed. So…what else is there for me to say? Other then what I said, I just want you to know that…well, maybe Hermes kids aren't so bad after all. Thank you for everything you've done. Seriously, though, get over the fact that I'm dead. Okay?_

_-Lief_

_P.S. Thanks. I mean it. _

I slammed the letter down on the floor. "Dang it, Lief, why'd you have to die?" I asked. There was no answer. Of course there wasn't. Lief was dead. Gone. Forever. For some reason, I couldn't handle that. I pulled the sheet back down over Lief's feet, but uncovered his face. I reached down, tracing his scar, and on a second thought, tucked my last drachma in his pocket. His body was already cold and growing stiff.

As I was turning to walk out, a thought occurred to me. It was rather rude for me to just leave Lief in the van. The very least I could do was to bring his body into the Big House. I had picked it up and was stumbling out of the van when the Hunters emerged from the woods.

_Lief _

I seemed to be floating. As if in a dream, I saw a van pull up, Theo, Noah, and Erin jump out. They lifted my body into the van. Then I was floating again, through space and time. I went whirling through what could have been centuries or minutes. Eventually, I saw a man sitting at a desk, asking for a coin. I looked around for a way out, but there was none. I searched my pockets and found nothing. Checking once more, I found a drachma that seemed to have suddenly appeared there. I set it on the desk and boarded an elevator. This elevator then turned into a boat, taking me across the River Styx. I couldn't seem to speak. It was like someone was holding their hand over my mouth, and I didn't like it. Being a child of Apollo, I sometimes just get the urge to talk, or recite a poem, or sing a song, or other such nonsense.

Stepping out of the boat on the other side of the Styx, I looked up. I'm not sure what I was expecting to see, but what I did see was disappointing. The blackness seemed to stretch on and on, upwards for what seemed like forever. Then and there, I decided that the thing I'd miss the most would be the sun and the stars. I then looked down at my hands. They were translucent, almost transparent. Fascinating. I shuffled my way past Cerberus and into a line for judgment. I mean, the Fields of Asphodel is the easy way out. I want to be judged for what I did, whether it be good or bad.

I couldn't help but think about Erin. Had she found my note? Had she read it? Did she miss me? I tried to banish the thoughts from my head, but they stuck around. After what seemed like an eternity, I was pushed into a small room by a pair of grinning skeletons. There were three judges wearing gold masks seated on a balcony above me. The middle one took out a thin file and laid it on the table before him. He cleared his throat rather loudly. "We have here the file for Lief Harrison. Is that you?" he asked. I nodded, still unable to speak.

"Well," the first judge said, scanning the notes, "he certainly didn't do much good in his life. Look at all those people who were killed because of him."

The second judge shook his head. "He didn't kill them directly, though. There wasn't much direct good or bad at all."

The third judge spoke for the first time. "He did more good then you credit him with. He didn't directly cause a death, and he acted for what he considered the best for others."

The first judge still shook his head. "He didn't do enough good to outweigh the evil. He turned his back on those who loved him. The Fields of Punishment." My heart was racing at the mention of this. I hadn't been _that_ bad, had I? Wait- 'those who loved him'? There were people out there who still loved me? Even after all the terrible things that seemed to follow me everywhere I went?

The second judge disagreed. "He didn't do enough good or enough evil. The Fields of Asphodel."

The third judge spoke again. "He did more good than evil in his life. Elysium." The judges continued to argue. It felt unusual to be talked about as if I weren't there.

After what seemed like an hour but could really have been days, the judges fell silent. "We have reached a conclusion," the third judge said. "You have not done enough good to deserve Elysium, nor enough evil to deserve Punishment, but you have done enough that you would not fit in Asphodel. You are a unique case, and we may make a unique ruling." He looked to the other judges for approval, and they nodded. "We have decided to send you back to the living. A chance to prove your worth, so to speak. We will not set a time limit on your time with the living, but we will not make this ruling again. The next time you die, it will be final. We wish you the best of luck." For a moment, I thought I may have detected a smile beneath the mask.

"However, we can not let you simply go back," the first judge stated. "There will be -how shall I phrase this- a test, so to speak. A test for those who truly care for you."

A question was burning in my mind, and I suddenly realized I could speak. "What is this test?" I asked.

The first judge snorted. "It wouldn't be much of a test if we told you, now would it?"

I shook my head. "No, sir, I guess not."

"Do you understand what is expected of you?" the second judge asked. "There will be no third chances."

"Yes, sir, I think I understand."

"Then go," the judges said in unison. "Return to the life you have left." There were more words after that, but I heard none of then as I faded into a black mist. There was a sharp pain in the back of my skull, then nothing.

**A/N- Well, that was interesting. Thoughts? Opinions? Maybe a review?**

**-Smartone101**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N- So, so sorry for the long wait. See note at the end.**

**Disclaimer- Don't own PJO. Although, if you read "Wait-What did We Just Explode?", I actually came up with the demigods going to Seattle **_**before**_** SoN came out…that was kind of cool.**

Chapter 13: Day 6, Part 3-Day 7, Part 1: Chance

_Erin_

At first, I was so shocked I almost dropped Lief's body. "What are you doing here?" I stammered.

The Hunters parted and a twelve-year-old stepped forward. I mentally reviewed everything I'd accidentally learned in class -yes, I said accidentally. I try not to learn things unless they seem important. The only person who would fit this description would be Artemis herself. "Lady Artemis," I greeted her respectfully, dipping my head. I would have bowed, except that it happens to be rather hard to bow while holding a body.

"Erin Parman," Artemis replied. "I see that the boy-" she spat the word out, "is dead."

"Who, Lief?" I asked. "Do you have something against him?"

"He was responsible for the death of one of my Huntresses," Artemis explained, sitting on the ground and motioning for me to do so as well. "A certain Shannon Harrison. I believe you removed her body."

The name seemed familiar. Where had I heard that before? "Oh, you mean the girl?"

"Yes. The boy-"

"Lief," I interrupted.

"The boy," Artemis continued, "was talking to her when an empousa attacked them from behind. Shannon was killed almost immediately, while he was injured. It seems he is now dead, otherwise we would have killed him. As it is, Thalia fired an arrow which killed the empousa."

"Why would you have killed Lief?" I asked.

"He was responsible for the death of one of my Huntresses. For that, he must be killed."

The name suddenly clicked in my head. Shannon Harrison, Lief Harrison, Lief's twin…That's it! "Shannon was Lief's twin sister!" I exclaimed.

Artemis looked surprised. "She was?"

"Yes, Lief had told me."

"That still does not excuse his actions, although it may have softened his punishment had he been alive," Artemis stated. This somewhat blunt reminder of Lief's death made me glance down at his body, as if to make sure he wasn't breathing. "We'll have to remove Shannon's body," Artemis explained.

"It's in the van," I said. Two Hunters walked to the van and disappeared inside it.

"I would like to make you an offer." Artemis' voice snapped me back to reality.

"What?" I asked.

"I am offering you a chance to join the Hunt."

"What?" I gasped. I do gasp sometimes, you know. I gasped…okay, so maybe I don't gasp. _Anyways_, back on topic. I was shocked. "I'll, um, have to think about it for a minute."

"Take your time," Artemis said calmly. For some reason, she kept staring at me. Silver eyes _are_ very creepy, and they really disrupt the thinking process. I ended up staring at a blade of grass near my shoe. An ant crawled up it as I pondered what the choice meant. Joining would mean immortality, but it would also mean leaving camp, leaving my friends, and leaving Matt. Saying no might anger Artemis, but it would also mean I could stay here where I belong. I felt split, torn in two.

I finally raised my head. "Thanks, but no thanks," I said, though my voice was shaking.

"Are you sure?" Artemis asked. I nodded. "Hunters, we have what we came for. Move out," Artemis commanded. Within thirty seconds, they had disappeared back into the woods, and I was left alone, Lief's body laying beside me with his head in my lap. His eyes were still open, staring at the sky. I forced his eyelids down. No, this was not some sort of emotional gesture. Dead eyes really are quite creepy.

I stood, picked up Lief's body again, and continued toward the Big House. The door was ajar and I nudged it open with my foot. Stepping in, I saw Mr. D immersed in a game, which may or may not have been Angry Birds. Chiron was nowhere to be seen. I softly made my way into one of the small rooms reserved for the very ill, dead, or mentally ill. Yes, I did say mentally ill. Couple years back, there was this guy, Josh or something like that, who was completely off his rocker. That one's a story for some other time, though.

I lay Lief's body on the bed, hoping nobody minded if the sheets got a little bloodstained. I smoothed his hair down, straightened the bandages across his chest, little things that people didn't notice or take time to fix. As I was turning away from his face, I felt something touch my hand. Something warm and moist. I jerked back around, holding my hand about an inch away from his mouth. I felt that warm, moist felling again. Then a second later, again. Scarcely believing my senses, I put my ear to his chest. And I felt- a heartbeat. "He's alive!" I yelled in my exhilaration. Now, when would he wake up? And what would I do until he did?

I settled on grabbing a notebook from the Hermes cabin and sitting down in a chair by the bed Lief was sleeping in. I had started my pranking notebook several years before, when I first came to camp. The Stolls had said to use it to keep track of my best pranks and ideas for new ones. I started to plan out an awesome prank on the Demeter cabin that would leave them fuming, but before I realized it, I was asleep.

I woke up the next morning with a stiff back and a sore neck. "Ow…" I muttered, looking over at the bed. It was empty. That was when I noticed the knife pressing into my back. "What's going on?" I asked, figuring it was a prank or something of the sort.

"Who are you? Why have you brought me here? You killed my family!" the voice from behind said coldly. _Aw, shoot_, I thought. Lief was back, but he thought I'd killed his family. This was not good.

"I- I didn't do anything!" I protested, getting up and turning around. Lief's hair was rumpled and his eyes were tired, but there was an anger in his face that I hadn't seen before. _This must be what he was like after his family died_, I thought involuntarily. _Note to self: Is it possible to think of something involuntarily? Test this theory later._

"That's what you say," Lief replied, narrowing his eyes dangerously, "But how do I know I can believe you?" Again, this was not good in the least. What to do now?

_Lief_

I confronted the girl in front of me, whom I was almost positive had been to blame for my family's death. That was the last thing I remembered -my sister slumping to the floor, the _thing_ turning to me, and a blinding pain in my head. I reached up gingerly to touch my head and was surprised to feel a scar, running along my forehead and temple. It throbbed as I fingered it. _First things first,_ I reminded myself. The girl that had been sleeping in a chair was now facing me. Had she killed my family? It was possible, I couldn't remember the face of the one who had committed the crime. It was rather strange, though. A wound as recent as my head injury wouldn't have scarred this fast. It was like it had been several years since my family's death. _That doesn't make sense!_ my mind screamed. Still…between the creature turning to me after killing family, and the more recent memory of just waking up, there seemed to be a fuzzy patch. Had I been knocked out? Or had something happened? _Never mind. I'll figure it out later,_ I thought. _Right now, focus on what's important._ "Who are you?" I asked again.

"I'm Erin Parman. Come on, Lief, you know who I am!" the girl exclaimed. She looked positively terrified.

"How do you know my name?"

"Lief, I've known you ever since you showed up here two years ago! Maybe we weren't the best of friends, but I knew who you were," the girl -Erin- replied.

I thought for a moment. "I don't know who you are."

Erin muttered something under her breath in a different language. "Lief, think. What is the last thing you remember?"

"Blacking out," I answered truthfully. I really hoped this girl wasn't trying to distract me…

"Before that."

"Something killing my sister and turning towards me."

Erin's face blanched. "Oh, shoot. This is not good."

"What? And how do I know you didn't kill my family?" I asked.

"First off, you're going to trust me on this. Besides, if I wanted to kill you, don't you think I would have done so a long time ago?" I considered this. If she was telling the truth, that meant that something had happened between my last memory and now. She could be lying- except that there was no reason for her to lie.

"I guess I'll trust you for now. At least until you can prove to me that you're innocent," I replied, lowering the knife. I wasn't sure if this girl was telling the truth, but I would have to trust her. I really had no other options.

"Okay, that's good," Erin sighed. "I'm guessing you have amnesia, except that that wouldn't make sense, because amnesia is usually caused by a strong blow to the head, and you were stabbed. But then again, you also died and came back to life so maybe-" she cut herself off, "I'm rambling again, aren't I?"

I managed a thin smile. "Yes, I think you are."

"Sorry."

"It's okay. So what do you think happened to me, then?" I asked.

Erin sat back down in the chair. I sat on the edge of the bed. Erin leaned back and spoke, "Well, it's kind of a long story…"

**A/N- Yes, I know it's short. However, I was really busy, plus I had some major writer's block. : ( It is still an update, and I will hopefully be updating more regularly. Thanks for sticking with this! **

**Much thanks to bluefire510 for getting me back on track. =) **

**-smartone101, signing back in**


End file.
